Baseball: Former WDC pitcher Dykhoff earns third NSIC ‘Pitcher of the Week’ honor this season

CROOKSTON – University of Minnesota Crookston pitcher Jake Dykhoff was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference “Pitcher of the Week” for the third time this season this week. He is a former baseball star for the Wadena-Deer Creek Wolverines.

Dykhoff, who is a redshirt senior for the Golden Eagles, pitched his fourth complete game of the season in a 2-1 win over Northern State University on April 24. He threw a perfect inning in the top of the second, striking out three batters on nine pitches.

Dykhoff picked up his sixth win of the season after allowing just one run on two hits and striking out 12 batters. Dykhoff has struck out 10 or more batters three times this season. He has a pitching record of 6-4 this season, with a 3.92 ERA in 10 starts this season. He has struck out 82 and walked 15.

He picked up his first “Pitcher of the Week” honor early in the season for a March 4 win after throwing seven shutout innings against West Virginia Wesleyan College. He held the Bobcats to two hits, striking out 10 and walking one. Dykhoff forced two groundouts and eight flyouts against the 23 batters faced. He held the opposition to a .091 batting average.

Later in March, Dykhoff was selected as the National College Baseball Writers Association NCAA Division II National Pitcher of the Week for leading UMC to a 4-1 record over a five-game stretch against Winona (Minn.) State University and Concordia University of St. Paul from March 21 through March 26. Altogether that week, he was recognized at the NCAA Division II national, regional and conference levels for his pitching outings for the Golden Eagles.

That same week, Dykhoff’s brother Josh Dykhoff was named the NSIC “Player of the Week.” According to the NSIC, it was the first time in the conference’s history that siblings received the player and pitching awards in the same week.

Jake Dykhoff ended his baseball career at WDC as the all-time leader in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts. He also was the school’s all-time leader in hits, doubles, at-bats and runs batted in. He hit .456 in his career with 89 runs scored, 156 hits, 44 doubles, four triples, five home runs and 96 RBIs

On the mound, Dykhoff was 24-11 with a 1.82 ERA in his high school career with more than 215 innings pitched. Had 343 strikeouts in his career with just 54 walks.

Dykhoff was a finalist for the Minnesota Mr. Baseball Award during his senior season in 2018.