Sioux Falls, S.D. (KELO AM and KWSN) - A group is giving summer collegiate wood-bat baseball another try in Sioux Falls this year.
Tuesday marked the unveiling of the Sioux Falls GOLD, a new team in the Pioneer Collegiate Baseball League that will call Karras Park at Augustana University home.
The GOLD are owned and operated by Don Karras, a longtime Augustana University baseball booster for whom the team's ballpark is named. They'll be coached by former USF players Corey Vasquez and Zach Ireland. Former Canaries standout Byron Minnich will serve as the team's pitching coach.
The team's initial 2017 roster is loaded with local connections, including four players from Sioux Falls. Brookings, Yankton, and Hardwick, MN (near Pipestone) are also represented on the roster. Five players come from Augustana University, and one each from USF and Dakota State. Three players will join the team from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, which is coached by former Augustana assistant Bryan Nikkel.
Three Division I will be a part of the team. Josh Baumgart, a Sioux Falls native who pitches at Moorehead State University in Kentucky, headlines that list. South Dakota State's Ryan Flynn and Brody Hagel-Pitt of the University of Hawaii are the other two.
Games for the GOLD will begin on June 8th and run through July 29th. The league playoffs will begin shortly thereafter. The league consists of five teams, 3 based in Iowa (Bancroft, Carroll, and Storm Lake) and one team in Albert Lea, MN.
GOLD tickets will be available for walk-up purchase the day of the game only. Prices range from $7.50 for adults down to 2.50 for youth players who come to the game in their team jersey.
Last summer the Sioux Falls Pilots also played games on the Augustana campus and called the Cornbelt Collegiate League home. That team and league folded last fall. The GOLD and PCBL are separate entities.