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SPORTS DEPARTMENT: sports@yankton.netPRESS DAKOTANP A G E 8

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Local ‘Captains’ Play Big Part In L&C League All-Star GameBY JEREMY HOECKjeremy.hoeck@yankton.net

It’s not very often baseball fans getthe opportunity to walk out onto amajor league field, let alone play on amajor league field.

Yet, that was the exact situationthree people — and a forth, for a briefmoment — with connections to Yanktonexperienced last week at Busch Stadiumin St. Louis, Missouri, the home of theSt. Louis Cardinals.

Yankton natives Mark Vig and DerrikNelson, along with Mount Marty Collegeplayer Zac Hollenback, were selected toplay in last Thursday’s Lewis & ClarkBaseball League All-Star Game. All threeare members of the St. Louis Captains:Vig as the head coach, and Nelson andHollenback as two of the top players.

“Once you got out there, you had topinch yourself,” Vig said Sunday byphone.

Vig served as the bench coach forthe Clark Conference, while Nelson andHollenback were both named to theteam as reserves — both later playedkey roles in the late innings.

The two players, both seniors thisfall at Mount Marty, have played in amajor league stadium before, when theLancers played at the Metrodome inMinneapolis. Being at Busch Stadium,

however, was a whole different experi-ence, Nelson said.

“It was a little different standing thereand seeing forty thousand open seats,but it was still pretty surreal,” he said.

Hollenback, a native of Las Vegas, Ne-vada, went a step further, calling the all-star game an “experience of a lifetime.”

“Being able to play at that field, it putinto perspective all the baseball I’veplayed that led to that point,” he said.

Vig’s top memory of the night?Pulling the right strings to allow his fa-ther Joe Vig to throw out a first pitch be-fore the game. Joe Vig recently retiredas president of Kolberg-Pioneer, Inc. ofYankton.

“He literally no idea that was goingto happen,” said Mark Vig, who caughtthe pitch. “He was probably tearing up alittle bit, because it was like being a lit-tle kid again.”

Vig and the seven other all-star selec-tions from his team also got the oppor-tunity to meet Hall of Famer Lou Brock,who also serves as a Lewis & ClarkLeague honorary board member.

“He was really nice to all the guys,they all got to shake his hand and chatwith him for a little bit,” Vig said.

Though he didn’t actually get to batuntil the fourth inning, Nelson said hewas still in awe of actually being part ofthe action.

“The first couple innings, it was like,‘Wow, it’s just great to be here,’” Nelsonsaid. “Once I got up there (to the plate),I was giddy the first time. The secondtime, I settled down a little bit.”

While Nelson had his ‘wow’ momentat the plate, Hollenback recalled stand-ing in the outfield and being amazed atthe condition of the field.

“That place is a cathedral, it reallybelittles you,” he said. “There’s no bladeof grass out of place, and the dirt is per-fect. (It was) certainly the best field I’veever played on.”

Nelson hit an RBI single in the sixthinning and later scored the tying run inthe ninth inning. Hollenback followedwith the go-ahead run. The Lewis Con-ference team, however, won the gameon a walk-off wild pitch in the bottom ofthe ninth.

“They definitely played the best outof all my guys who were there,” Vig saidof Nelson and Hollenback. “It’s cool tothink if it would have come down to uswinning, they would have scored thetwo biggest runs.”

That would have been rather appro-priate, given the impact the two havemade on the Captains — one of six newteams to the 8-team league this season.

SUBMITTED PHOTOMount Marty College’s Derrik Nelson, left, and Zac Hollenback werenamed to the Lewis & Clark Baseball League All-Star Game, heldthis past Thursday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Yankton nativeMark Vig, center, served as bench coach for the Clark Division All-Stars, which lost 8-7.ALL-STAR | PAGE 9

Trade CostsSamardzijaChance For

All-Star OutingNEW YORK (AP) — The

trade that put Jeff Samardzijaon a postseason contendercost him a chance to pitch inhis first All-Star game.

A day after Samardzijawas dealt from the ChicagoCubs to Oakland, a bigleague-high six Athletics werepicked Sunday for the gameat Target Field in Minnesotaon July 15.

That doesn’t includeSamardzija, selected as a Na-tional League All-Star. MajorLeague Baseball said he is in-eligible to play because of theleague switch.

The 29-year-old right-han-der, who was 2-7 with a 2.83ERA and 103 strikeouts forthe Cubs, won his AmericanLeague debut Sunday whenhe allowed one run in seveninnings for a 4-2 victory overToronto. He will be intro-duced with the NL playersbefore the All-Star game; stillto be decided is whether hewears a Cubs or A’s uniform— or a generic NL jersey.

“I won’t get to pitch,which is a bummer, but that’sall right,” Samardzija said.“I’ll just go through whateverceremonies they have andjust jump over to the ALdugout with an NL jersey onand have some fun with thesix other dudes we have overthere, which is exciting.”

Oakland, with the bestrecord in the majors, has itsmost All-Stars since 1975: left-handers Sean Doolittle andScott Kazmir; catcher DerekNorris; first baseman Bran-don Moss; third basemanJosh Donaldson; and out-fielder Yoenis Cespedes.

“It’s really cool,” A’s man-ager Bob Melvin said. “Wewere hoping for somethinglike this.”

Yankees shortstop DerekJeter, playing his 20th andfinal season, was chosen forhis 14th All-Star team and willstart for the ninth time. Hegets reunited with Seattlesecond baseman RobinsonCano, his former double-playpartner in New York.

Mariano Rivera, the retir-ing Yankees reliever, was thecenter of attention at lastyear’s All-Star game when theMets hosted in Citi Field.Jeter could be in the spot-light this year.

“All-Star game was in NewYork last year. It’s a little bitdifferent,” Jeter said. “I don’tgo into it with any expecta-tions. Just trying to enjoy my-self and have fun withwhoever is here.”

Among the big names by-passed entirely were sluggerDavid Ortiz and closer KojiUehara from World Serieschampion Boston, San Fran-cisco catcher Buster Posey,and Dodgers pitcher JoshBeckett.

“I had a chance to talkwith David, and he felt thefour days of rest might bemore advantageous to him,”said Boston skipper John Far-rell, the AL manager. “He wasa pro about it. He spoke hismind and had a lot of input inthe decisions.”

Also elected by fans tostart for the AL were Detroitfirst baseman Miguel Cabr-era, Donaldson, and outfield-ers Jose Bautista of Toronto,Adam Jones of Baltimore andMike Trout of the Los Angeles

MLB | PAGE 9

JEREMY HOECK/P&DYankton Tappers first baseman Trey Krier, right, scoops a low throw during a pickoff attempt of Menno's Macon Oplinger during their South Central League amateur gameSunday night at Riverside Field.

Tappers Topple Mad Frogs

JAMES D. CIMBUREK/P&DLesterville's Cody Ulmer, left, is congratulated by teammate AndyGall during the Broncs' 14-4 home victory over Tabor in South Cen-tral League amateur baseball action on Saturday.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Ithad been more than 15 years sincethe iconic No. 43 drove to VictoryLane.

So waiting through two days ofthunderstorms and three red flags wasrelatively easy for Aric Almirola andhis Richard Petty Motorsports team.

Almirola won the rain-delayed andrain-shortened NASCAR Sprint Cuprace at Daytona International Speed-way on Sunday, putting Petty’s famedblue car back on top for the first timesince 1999.

Almirola’s first Cup win came onthe same weekend Petty celebratedthe 30th anniversary of his 200th ca-reer win. The 30-year-old Almirolawas just a baby when Petty picked upthat milestone victory.

“The 43 car is without a doubt themost famous car in our sport’s his-tory,” Almirola said. “And to havethat opportunity to drive that racecar has been really special from theday that I stepped foot in it. All Iwanted to do from the very first timeI drove it was get it to Victory Lane. It

took two and a half years I guess, butI finally did it.”

Petty wasn’t around for the festivi-ties, having already left Daytona duringone of the many delays. He didn’t missmuch considering steady rain put aslight damper on the post-race party.

NASCAR, though, patched throughthe seven-time NASCAR championnicknamed “The King” on a confer-ence call afterward and talked abouthow he never lost faith despite yearsof struggles as a team owner.

“If you look back at the history of

Petty Enterprises and all the turmoilwe’ve been through, I never gave upon the thing,” Petty said. “It was one ofthose deals I said, ‘OK, if I keep work-ing at it long enough, we’re going to beable to overcome all of this.’ Just be-cause we won a race doesn’t meanwe’ve overcome it, don’t get mewrong. But it puts in a higher speedtrack. You know you can do it.

“Everybody’s got to have a start,and I think this will be starting it

Almirola Wins Rain-Shortened NASCAR Race At Daytona

NASCAR | PAGE 9

The Yankton Tappers useda pair of big innings to beatMenno 11-5 in South CentralLeague amateur baseball ac-tion on Sunday at RiversideField.

Jason Miller went 2-4 witha home run and two RBI tolead a balanced Yankton at-tack. Mike Janish had a hit, aRBI and two runs scored. NikDavis and Derek Blumenstockadded doubles in the victory.

For Menno, Ryan Liebl andDoug Hall each had two hits.

Janish pitched six inningsfor the victory, with JesseBailey and Josh Teichroewcombining on two innings ofshutout relief. Tate Brucknertook the loss.

Yankton travels to Ireneon Thursday. Menno hostsWynot on Thursday.MENNO .................................301 010 000 — 5 11 6YANKTON ...........................004 007 00X — 11 11 2

Tate Bruckner, Tom Sattler (8) and Jay Thaler; MikeJanish, Jesse Bailey (7), Josh Teichroew (9) and KoreyBromley

Irene 11, Scotland 1IRENE — Irene’s George

Sees and Jack Huether com-bined on a three-hitter as theCardinals topped Scotland11-1 in South Central Leagueamateur baseball action onSunday.

Alex Loes had two dou-bles and five RBI, and TrevorJacobsen had two hits to leadIrene. Michael Kronaizl hadtwo of Scotland’s three hits.

Sees pitched the first fiveinnings for the victory. ScottUlmer took the loss.

Irene travels to Canton fora non-league game on Tues-day. Scotland hosts Freemanon Friday.SCOTLAND.................................000 010 0 — 1 3 1IRENE .....................................152 012 X — 11 11 1

Scott Ulmer, Paul Plante (5) and Levi Geiman;

George Sees, Jack Huether (6) and Sam Parkinson

Lesterville 14, Tabor 4LESTERVILLE — Zach

Johnson had a grand slamhome run and a double, driv-ing in six, as the LestervilleBroncs rolled past Tabor 14-4in South Central League ama-teur baseball action on Satur-day.

Cody Ulmer also homeredamong his two hits for Lester-ville. Tyler Edler doubled andsingled, and Brandon Nicko-lite doubled in the victory.

Chris Sutera and BlaseVanecek each had two hitsfor Tabor.

Alex Wagner picked up thevictory. Vanecek took theloss.

Lesterville hosts Freeman

BASEBALL | PAGE 9