Important

Yankeeclipper,

There is a wide range of D3 baseball programs in Minnesota, from teams which can compete on a national level to smaller programs which do not even fill their baseball roster every year. If you become a varsity level HS player by your senior year, continue to improve your skills and get into good condition, and then go to college and work hard at tryouts and/or Fall practices, there is probably a D3 college coach somewhere in the state who will keep you on his roster.

I guess the trick is to find a good fit for you between the non-baseball aspects of the college and your chances of playing baseball there. As an 08 you have a while to develop your abilities, and research colleges. But you could start by looking up some D3 college on this part of the NCAA site:
http://web1.ncaa.org/ssLists/sportByConf.do?sport=MBA&division=3
...and then researching those teams' records, rosters, etc.

Also, there are Community Colleges in Minnesota which can compete with very strong teams, and others which can find a place for almost any qualified HS varsity player on their team. You can look those up on the web of course - I don't have a link handy, but do a Google search for something like Community College baseball Minnesota, then follow the links of some of those colleges to see who has teams, roster size, etc.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice, MNmom.

A CC seems like a less steller choice because I've got an A average and study journalism, but I was wondering about some of our local DIIIs here in MN.

What do you know about St. John's, St. Olaf, St. Thomas, Macalester, or other MIAC schools? I know they have great acedemincs, and due to their size I could possibly play baseball and football. (Mac had a 40 man team one year). Thanks for the input, it helps to have a fellow Minnesotan here.

Yankeeclipper,

The MIAC schools you mentioned are all great schools academically and have good, competitive sports programs as well. Actually, I took many classes at St. John's (science/pre-med) and graduated from its sister school St. Benedict College about 24 years ago. I played 3B for St. Ben's fastpitch team. Very nice campuses and great places to go to school - that applies to all four that you mentioned. Macalester can be very tough to get into. My niece was not admitted a few years ago in spite of having an ACT score of 29, GPA of 3.8, and the volleyball coach recruiting her. My 06 son who has an ACT of 31 and GPA of 3.9 is considering St. Olaf's, although he will probably end up at a different college due to his choice of music majors.

None of these schools have "slouch" baseball programs, and in fact most of them may have rosters made up of players who were each in the top 1 or 2 on their HS teams. So if playing baseball in college is important to you, you will need to see how you progress with your HS team and then make sure you communicate with the coach at your top choices by Junior year, to see whether you might fit in to their program. Macalester has winter camps every year, and I think St. John's does also - perhaps all 4 schools do. That can be a good chance to see how you compare with other players interested in the school, and even get feedback from the coaches. Augsburg is another good D3 school on par with the 4 you mentioned.

Congratulations on your A average, and keep up the good work!

Thanks for the feedback, MNMom, it should help. I'll definately check out Augsburg. All of the MIAC schools seem like very strong all around colleges, and I especially appreciate the acedemic as well as athletic oppurtunities.

By the way, I was wondering about GPAs. For 1st and 2nd quarter freshman year, I had what I think was a .3.67. Then, for the last 2 quarters, I had a 4.0. Will the slow start in 1st semester, freshman year hurt me, even if I can average As the rest of high school? (...that
's what I meant by A average...sorry if it's misleading. thanks for the compliment nonetheless.).

Again, I appreciate your help and am excited about the prospects that await.

Yankeeclipper,

Don't worry, if you can keep your grades in the 3.7 to 4.0 range, that will look very good to most colleges. You might also want to start preparing for the standardized tests like ACT (accepted by most Minnesota colleges) and SAT (required by some good schools in other regions). Also check out the NCAA website at http://www.ncaa.org and make sure you are taking the core courses which the NCAA has approved for your high school. You would need to meet these requirements to participate in athletics at a D2 or D1 school, though this is not required for D3 or JUCO/CC athletics.

Good luck!

Great! I'll definately start working on that, and then try to go to some of the camps this winter, such as Macalester, (others when and if availible) Hopefully a 4.0 from here on out and high ACT and SAT scores will help me a ton. Thanks a lot for all your help.

Clips, It is good that you have a good GPA. I admire you. If it isn't too much of a problem, can you please PM me some study skills that will help me with my homework and to stay focused for all 180 days of school. I am looking into focusing on broadcast communications as a career study. Thanks a bunch Clips.

AKBaseball20,

This one is a little expensive, but there are many out there:
"Where There's a Will, There's an A"
You can do a google on study skills programs. Or go to a good bookstore in your area for other help tips.
Time management & goal setting are key.

Hey AK, I'll just post my tips here so other people can see them too, here they are:

Treat School Like Sports: Obviously, you're a dedicated athlete or you wouldn't be here. The same skills for sports, (determination, hard work, goal setting, practice, etc.) are key in school as well. The teacher is like the coach. They know everything YOU need to get an A, and since they're a great resource, use them! Come early or stay late, and just about every teacher will help you. You would ask you're coach a question right? A teacher's the same thing.

Also, make sure you keep track of everything. Get a notebook or planner or something, and write down your assignments for each day and when they're due. allow yourself plenty of time to do a good job and return everything on time. You wouldn't blow off a workout or practice, and homework's the same thing.

Finally, attack everything %100. Sometimes school is hard or boring, but we've all had hard or boring baseball practices, too. Handle everything with %100 dedication and see things through to completion. Homework is only hard or dumb if you think of it like that. if you percieve it as a challenge, it will be more interesting and you'll do much better.

Remember: The only difference between a 4.0 GPA and a .300 BA is the forum in which you're succeeding.

yankeeclipper -

That's a great analogy on school work vs. baseball! Thanks for sharing it with the board.

Thanks.

By the way, I mean 100%. I was kinda tired after football 2-a-days and messed that up.