July 14, 2007

Amateur baseball: Ex-Gopher happy down on the farm
By Tom Elliott

ELROSA — Arguably the ace of the Northwoods League’s 2005 champions, Ethan Vogt now sees his days begin with the buzzing of an alarm clock at 4 a.m.

Then it’s off to morning chores, which include helping milk 90 cows. The days are long and hard on the Vogt farm. Vogt helps his brother and father all day with the family farm and is often not done until 7 p.m. or so.

Vogt says he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“This is definitely what I want to be doing,” he said.

That he is choosing this lifestyle, along with raising his six-month-old son, instead of playing in the Northwoods League or at the University of Minnesota next season may raise an eyebrow.

But not for Vogt.

And besides, he’s still playing baseball. It’s just for the Stearns County League’s Elrosa Saints. The Saints have a huge playoff game at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Saints Field against the New Munich Silverstreaks.

“It’s nice having him around,” said Elrosa manager Pat Illies.

Committed to work on the family farm and taking care of his son, Jaren Gerald Vogt, Vogt’s main baseball endeavors are going to be with Elrosa.

He has a year of eligibility left with the Gophers but says he’d rather take up the farm life than another hectic Big Ten baseball season.

“Taking care of my little son is the No. 1 reason,” said Vogt, 21, who is helping raise Jaren with his girlfriend, Danielle Breitbach. “I feel like I need to be home for that.”

Reason No. 2, he said, is that he doubts he would have been eligible to play for Minnesota because of a change in transfer rules. He was told that he would need to complete 40 credits in his major by next spring in order to compete.

Good student

Vogt transferred to Minnesota after two outstanding years at Ridgewater Community College in Willmar, helping lead the Warriors to the Division III Junior College World Series.

He was a good student in both places. He was an animal science major at Minnesota with an emphasis in dairy.

“I don’t think it’s even possible to take the 40 credits worth of classes in my major between now and then,” he said.

He’s not sure that he was learning what he hoped to at Minnesota.

He said the class work involved more theory and science and less of the hands-on approach he preferred and felt he needed to know to go into farming with his brother Aaron, who’s a graduate of Dakota State College in Madison, S.D.

So, school’s out, at least for now.

“I wish he was going back, but that’s up to him,” said Ken Vogt, Ethan’s father.

Border Cat ace

Vogt says he believes he earned a baseball scholarship to the Gophers because of his good work at Ridgewater and because of the outstanding summer he had in 2005 with the Thunder Bay Border Cats in the Northwoods League. His last year at Ridgewater in 2006 included a 10-1 record and a 1.28 ERA.

In 2005, the Border Cats won the league title. Vogt went 7-0 with a 1.96 ERA for Thunder Bay. He pitched two games in the league championship series with the Madison Mallards.

“It was a lot of fun and a good experience,” Vogt said. “It’s kind of long travel-wise. Our shortest trip was to Duluth, and that’s 31/2 hours.

“I think it was a good thing I played for them because I doubt I would’ve signed with the Gophers.”

Vogt emerged as a key pitcher for Minnesota this spring, then developed elbow trouble. He started the Big Ten opener at Penn State. The Gophers traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich., but had their series with Michigan snowed out.

Vogt said they came back late at night and had a hard scrimmage early the next morning. That’s when his elbow started to hurt. He missed most of the rest of the Big Ten schedule, returning for the last conference series.

He made the playoff roster and pitched about 10 innings, including against Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament and against Fresno State in the regionals. Fresno State eliminated the Gophers, who also lost to Cal State-Fullerton.

Fullerton advanced to the College World Series.

Vogt, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound right-hander, finished the spring 3-2 with a 4.24 ERA. He pitched 462/3 innings, striking out 20 and walking 11. The Gophers finished 41-18.

With Jeron having been born on Dec. 26, it was time to get ready for the real world.

“After that Fullerton game, my brother said the exact same thing,” Vogt said. “Welcome to the real world.”

Vogt says his college career is over. He plans to help with the baby while his girlfriend returns to college to complete her degree.

And there are those long days on the farm. The Vogts recently built a new barn to help shelter the some 200 heifers they own.

“I really can’t imagine doing anything else,” he said.

He enjoys pitching for the Saints. He says his elbow is close to 100 percent, which will help Elrosa’s chances of returning to the state tournament. The Saints qualified for state in 2006.

To do that, though, they’ll have to get past a veteran New Munich squad. Spring Hill won the Stearns County’s North Division title. Elrosa finished second and New Munich third.

Teams play in a best-of-three series format to advance. The top two teams from each division advance to the Region 15C tournament. Region 15C this year is in Lake Henry. It also will include the top two teams from the Stearns County South, as well as the top two teams from the Corn Belt League’s North Division.

“We’re all pretty close,” Vogt said. “It’s definitely pretty tight.”

He says he enjoys pitching for Elrosa and says he gets as fired up to face New Munich as he did pitching against Ohio State or Cal State-Fullerton.

“Some players, I imagine not,” he said. “But I definitely do.”

The games are his recreation away from the farm. It’s a life he’s committed to and plans to enjoy.