A preview of Gopher baseball for 2024
2018 was a long time ago. That was the season when Gopher baseball won the Big Ten, won the Big Ten Tournament, hosted and won a Regional and then fell short to the eventual NCAA Champions in the Super Regional final.
That team was elite, but this is also the most successful program in the Big Ten and competing at this level has not been unusual. But it has been a sudden fall since and the Gopher baseball program has really been struggling since.
- 2019 – 15-8 in the Big Ten, 4th place
- 2020 – The team was off to an 8-10 start before Covid shut the world down
- 2021 – 6-31 playing Big Ten only opponents
- 2022 – 6-18 in the Big Ten, last place
- 2023 – 10-14 in Big Ten, 10th place
2024 will be the 43rd season under coach John Anderson and it will be his final, as he has announced his retirement. He is the winningest baseball coach in Big Ten history and has 11 regular season titles to his name. This will be a final season to celebrate his career and legacy, but how will the Gophers do this season?
The good news is that the team is returning 6 of their top 7 hitters from 2023. The bad news? The 2023 team was 2nd to last in the Big Ten in hitting. Last year’s team was also 11th in pitching and 10th in fielding. So there is a long way to go.
We are several games into the 2024 season, so based on playing time and box scores, here are the names who will see the most innings this season.
C – There is some nice talent at catcher for the Gophers and both players get a lot of at bats. Weber Neels is a true sophomore who great freshman season. He was third on the team in batting, 2nd in home runs and started 39 of 49 games. He can also move over to 1B and has started every game this season, typically batting cleanup. If Neels isn’t starting at catcher then you will see Sam Hunt, a redshirt sophomore who spent his first season at Vanderbilt before transferring back home to play for the Gophers. He started 23 games last season and the switch-hitter is a key player in this year’s lineup again.
1B – Already mentioned is Neels, who will start many games at 1B, but when Neels is at catcher, expect to see Kyle Bjork at first. Bjork is a redshirt senior who came to the Gophers from the state of Georgia out of high school.
2B – At second base is the son of former MLB player and current Cubs manager, Craig Counsell. The son, Brady Counsell has been a fixture in the starting lineup since his freshman season and will be one of the team’s leaders again this year. He started all 52 games for the Gophers last season and is likely to be your leadoff in every game this year as well.
3B – Another regular fixture in the lineup is Jake Perry at third. Perry is a junior who started 51 of 52 games last season at third and should be there again this season, batting in the middle of the lineup.
SS – Ike Mezzenga is a redshirt junior who started 50 games last season and will see significant time at SS again this season. He is a Mounds View product, brother of Ben who played for the Gophers. He spent his first two seasons playing for North Iowa CC before coming to Minnesota. But also getting some time at short is Jake Larson who started 19 games in 2023 and has seen a lot of action already in 2024.
LF – Another position that is essentially locked down is Boston Merila in left. Merila was 2nd on the team in hitting last season, starting 51 games and the senior from St. Michael is pencilled in as your starting left-fielder, hitting 2nd for this season.
CF – Sophomore Drew Berkland and senior Brady Jurgella are going to be the guys primarily covering center this season. Both have seen extensive time there this season and spent 2023 backing up Brett Bateman, who left to be an 8th round draft pick by the Cubs. Berkland the right-handed batter and Jurgella the lefty will likely see a lot of time based upon who is on the mound for the opponent.
RF – Kris Kokenson started 36 games a year ago and sophomore lefty is going to be there again this year.
Other position player – Look for Josh Fitzgerald to see a lot of action in the OF and at DH. He is a Dallas Baptist transfer who didn’t play last year due to a torn ACL injury. Befor his injury and during his final season at Kirkwood CC (before transferring to Dallas Baptist), Fitzgerald led the conference in home runs and led his team to the NJCAA Div II College World Series. And finally, Charlie Sutherland has been seeing time this season as an infielder. Sutherland is a true freshman from Duluth, looking to make an early impact.
Now we had to the mound.
SP – Tucker Novotny is the returning starter with the most innings pitched. He started 14 games a year ago, going 4-5 with a 5.03 ERA. Both his win total and his ERA led the team among the regular starters. Novotny is a junior from Park of Cottage Grove who has great size and can potentially be a very good starter in the Big Ten.
SP – Redshirt junior Will Semb is coming off an injury that prevented him from participating in 2023. But he is a likely early round draft pick in this upcoming MLB Draft and so far this year has been pitching great (but for 1 bad inning) in his 3 starts. Possibly a
SP – Connor Wietgrefe is also a junior lefty who saw a lot of action in 2023. Wietgrefe made 22 appearances for 44 2⁄3 innings and he led the team with 5 saves. He has started 2 games this season already and may be making the move from the bullpen to the 3-man, weekend rotation.
P – Creighton transfer, Thomas Gross has made 1 start in this early season, but is more likely to be a bullpen guy. The Minnetonka native played 2 years of JUCO baseball before playing 1 for Creighton and then deciding to move back home.
P – Kyle Remington is a true freshman looking to make an impact out of the pen immediately. He has made 4 appearances in this early season, looking to get his legs under him before the Big Ten season gets here.
P – Lefty, Justin Thorsteinson is a transfer from Oregon State and has seen plenty of action in the team’s first 9 games. May potentially be used as the team’s closer, but that is TBD.
P – Seth Clausen is a third-year relief pitcher and will be an important member of the bullpen again this season.
For this team to move up the Big Ten standings they need to collectively all be better. Hitting isn’t going to be solved by one or two guys and fielding needs to be much improved. Perhaps the overall pitching is elevated if guys like Semb and Novatny start to carry the staff.
But there is a lot of room to grow and to date, their 4-5 record is not an indication that things are turning a significant corner. Ten more games before the Big Ten season gets started with a trip to face the Hawkeyes (one of the conference favorites this year).