Two area amateur baseball players with Becker connections squared off in the championship game of the Minnesota Twins Fantasy Camp in Fort Myers last Sat., Jan. 14.  

Josh Stoll, former Becker High School pitcher, pitched seven scoreless innings of baseball for Game 7, coached by former Twins greats, Frank Viola and Jeff Reardon.  Stoll allowed only one hit, with no walks and nine strikeouts.  He also went two-for-two at the plate with a double and a walk.  

Mike Doetkott, current Becker resident and former Becker Buzzard, played for the opposing team, the Big Dogs, coached by former Twins greats, Kent Hrbek and Tim Laudner. 

At the Minnesota Twins Baseball Fantasy Camp, participants dress in a big league locker room, play on the same fields used by today’s major leaguers, wear and keep a personalized major league uniform, be coached by former big league greats and share in their incredible insights and stories.

During the Fantasy week in camp, athletes play a minimum of eight games, including an end of the week camper team tournament and championship game. One afternoon they got the opportunity to match their skills against the major leaguers in the Pro/Camper game played in beautiful Hammond Stadium – Spring Training Stadium of the Twins. Athletes played as little or as much as they liked and tried a variety of positions at camp.

Other Twins greats who have coached over the years have been Bert Blyleven, Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, Tom Brunansky, Rick Aguilera, Greg Gagne, Gene Larkin, Juan Berenquer, Al Newman, Camilo Pascual, Bill “Soup” Campbell, Scott Erickson, Steve Lombardozzi, Phil Roof, Dick Stigman, JC Romero, Juan Rincon, Eddie Guardado and many others! 

Twins Fantasy Camp is held the first full week in Florida every year.  This year there were 120 players along with former Twins players as coaches who particiapated.