Baseball: Parkers Prairie alum Alex Koep named NSIC Pitcher of the Year; makes all-conference team

2-Urbank, Alex Koep-DSC_9670.JPG — Alex Koep takes an at-bat during the Region 16C Tournament in the summer of 2022. Koep shined on the mound in the Class C state tournament opener on Aug. 20, throwing seven strong innings where he struck out 12 to help the Urbank Bombers to a 4-2 win over the Sartell Muskies. Koep is a senior at the University of Minnesota-Crookston and just became the first player in school history to win the NSIC Pitcher of the Year award.

By Sam Stuve

May 09, 2023 at 3:05 PM

Parkers Prairie alum Alex Koep (2020) has been an ace on the mound this season for the University of Minnesota-Crookston baseball team.

As a senior, he leads the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in lowest ERA (2.53), has allowed the least amount of hits (34), and held opposing batters to a .169 batting average (a conference-best among 33 qualified pitchers).

In a Tuesday press release, Koep was named the NSIC's Pitcher of the Year and was named to the NSIC All-Conference First Team ahead of this weekend’s conference tournament in North Dakota.

Koep is the first player in Minnesota-Crookston’s history to earn this honor.

The left-hander had a 7-1 record in the regular season.

Minnesota-Crookston (NCAA DII) had a 36-18 (26-10 NSIC) record in the regular season and earned the No. 3 seed in the conference playoffs.

Koep and the Golden Eagles begin the NSIC Playoffs (double-elimination format) on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, with a game against Minot State at 6 p.m. The tournament runs through Saturday, May 13, 2023.

By Sam Stuve

Sam Stuve covers a variety of sports in the Douglas County area. He also is assigned to do some news stories as well.

Baseball: Parkers Prairie alum Alex Koep named NSIC Pitcher of the Year; makes all-conference team

Koep is the first player in Minnesota-Crookston history to win the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Pitcher of the Year award.