The Week That Was

Training camp week started with the Purple signing tight-end Shaun Beyer and putting WR Blake Proehl & LB Ryan Connelly on the PUP List.

As the first practices unfolded there were few noteworthy developments, which is how every team wants it (no injuries). One exception came during Friday's teaser at The Palace as the team announced that Jared Allen will be this season's Ring of Honor inductee!

With classes about to recommence the men's 🏀 team announced the non-conference portion of the schedule. The home opener will be November 13 against U Pacific after season-opening dates against Arkansas & Kansas. They will close it out with a weekend two-fer against Montana & Waldorf at the SHAC.

After getting selected in last week's draft pitcher Jonah Tong opted to take the $226,000 payday. It was not an unexpected decision but means that Tyler Oakes & Co. will try to find another arm to add for the upcoming season. Identifying and getting as close to adding Tong as they did is a good sign for the sort of water they're swimming in - it's not just the 🏈 team that's finding pros! Another example is Logan Williams who signed with the Ogden (Utah) Raptors after batting .294 with a team-leading 12 HRs during his single season in Fargo.

Speaking of 🏈, their former phenom was officially named the starting quarterback for San Francisco this week! It makes the second preseason game down in Minneapolis that much more interesting! In a surprising twist, sophomore safety Tyson Gordon announced this week that he would be transferring out to play basketball.

The men's & women's ⛳️ teams also announced their 2022/2023 schedules this past week. Your opportunity to observe & interact with many of this year's competitors at Fan Day will be Tuesday, August 9.

It was a hoops-laden week for Moorhead State. While the women enjoyed time playing & seeing sights in Brazil, the men were recognized for their individual & collective work with the books!

As for the games in the Southern Hemisphere, the ladies had little trouble going win, win, win in their three stops.

With the season a few weeks from kickoff Terry Horan announced a few coaching staff changes, including the hiring of a long-time coach with experience at the highest levels.

Concordia 🏐 added some international flavor to the week with their first set Saturday evening in Spain.

Despite already having 15 players on the roster the Howl were able to add another shooter to the roster, Eric Paschall on a 2-way contract. While never a volume shooter he has improved his percentages each of the three years he's been in the Association. As a no-risk deal it can only help the team as they seek to improve upon last year's great results!

The losses continued to accumulated and with them the lead on Cleveland & Chicago shrunk to less than a series. With the trade deadline Tuesday and the team in a definitive swoon they may well be a full-fledged after-thought by this time next week with the Purple's & the Howl's seasons inching ever closer!

It was a less-than-sterling start to the week on the field that began with the access to the ballpark getting reduced by road construction, maybe that should have been an omen. Their first series went two out of three to Sioux City, with Lincoln jumping on them Friday to force a rubber-match Sunday thanks to a 3 - 2 win in 10 innings Saturday. With a 12-strikeout performance Kevin McGovern surpassed 800 for his career while the bats did enough to take the series and remain just one game behind surging Kansas City.

Reminder that scores are added daily plus there's a new home for recruiting news, which has continued to come in so take a peek!

The team was throttled 34 - 6 by St. Paul in the semi-finals of the League playoff and didn't score until they were all the way behind AKA too little, too late.

It was tournament week across North Dakota & Minnesota.

Moorhead started their run with an 8 - 4 win over Burnsville and then cruised by Rosetown 12 - 1. They failed to sustain that level of execution as Princeton took them down 8 - 0 to end pool play and St. Michael knocked them out of the tournament 7 - 1.

In division 2 tournament D/G/F was neck & neck with Tri-Town/Atwater until they gave up three runs in the sixth inning. They rebounded to knock off the hosts from Luverne and then Jackson for fifth place & the consolation championship.

In WF Post 2 opened with an 11 - 0 torrent on Williston while the hosts edged the 400 3 - 2. Bismarck took more air out of Post 400 with a 7 - 1 final followed by the Deuce cutting down Mandan 11 - 4. West Fargo finished the second day with a taste of their own medicine, losing 2 - 1 to Jamestown. J-town then proceeded to get by Post 2 11 - 8 after Dickinson was eliminated by West Fargo 10 - 4. That set-up a Friday afternoon win-or-go-home between Post 2 & West Fargo which the Patriots managed to survive, 3 - 1. It set the tone for the final day of games at the AA tournament as West Fargo tight-roped to a 2 - 0 victory over Mandan & an even narrow escape, 2 - 1 against Jamestown to take the state title! The Region Tournament begins Wednesday in Rapid City and will pit WF against Sioux Falls in the third game of the day.

Out in the heart of the oil patch the A tournament began Friday. The Fargo Jets got it started with a 5 - 4 win over the Bismarck Reps. Casselton followed suit in the third game of the day, beating the Senators 8 - 2 to advance & face Wahpeton. Kindred wasn't able to complete the day one sweep for the local teams as Watford edged them 4 - 3. On the brink of elimination Kindred came back with a 13 - 8 performance over the Reps while Casselton handled Wahpeton 7 - 1 & Fargo demolished WC 15 - 3. The two winners then faced Sunday with Casselton finishing ahead 3 - 0. In the elimination side of the bracket Kindred kept their season alive with a 4 - 2 win over Wahpeton. The two Region 1 rivals will square-off Monday with the winner facing either the Jets or Bismarck Tuesday.