The University of Minnesota Crookston baseball team is set to hold its Alumni and Family weekend on Saturday, September 21. The Golden Eagles will have an alumni game at 12 p.m. Saturday, as they welcome back the countless alumni who have helped build the Golden Eagle baseball program into one of the top contenders in the NSIC. Minnesota Crookston is also excited to welcome family members of their current and previous players back to celebrate the Golden Eagle baseball family. Free food and drink will be provided at the game. UMC Teambackers is also holding a tailgate.
Following the alumni game, Minnesota Crookston Baseball will host their Alumni Banquet at the Crookston Inn and Convention Center at 6 p.m. The event will be highlighted by keynote speaker Bucky Burgau, the former long-time head baseball coach at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn. Burgau led the Cobbers for 36 years, and has coached six MIAC Most Valuable Player award winners, seven All-Americans, 36 All-Region players and almost 100 MIAC All-Conference honorees. Several of Burgau’s former players have gone on to play professional baseball, and he was one of the influences on the professional career of former Cobbers and three-time MIAC MVP Chris Coste, who won the World Series as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Burgau is the all-time winningest coach in the history of Concordia athletics. Burgau amassed 680 career wins as head coach for the Cobbers. He has also posted 401 wins in the MIAC, making him the winningest coach to ever coach in the conference.
Burgau’s teams recorded at least 15 wins in 32 of the 36 seasons they played, and posted 20 wins in 13 different seasons. Burgau’s best season came in 1995 when the team went 30-8 and won the MIAC championship. In that season, the Cobbers advanced to the NCAA playoffs and finished second in the NCAA Midwest Regional.
In addition to Burgau, the alumni will be represented by one of the program’s all-time best leaders on and off the field Ben Thoma. Thoma was the first player in program history, in any sport, to win the NSIC Elite 18 Award, given to the sport’s top student-athlete for the season. In addition, Kelly Hjelle, the mother of Golden Eagle greats Reed and Jake Hjelle, will speak.
The Golden Eagles will also honor last season’s team and award winners. A social will begin prior to the banquet at 5 p.m. at the Crookston Inn and Convention Center.
To buy tickets for the banquet on Saturday please visit https://register.ryzer.com/camp.cfm?sport=2&id=283035
Family and alumni can stick around to watch the Golden Eagles compete in a scrimmage against Bemidji State University at 1 p.m. Sunday, September 22.
