Tyler Niedfeldt returns to the helm of the Becker Bulldog baseball team for the fifth straight season. Niedfeldt will be assisted on the field by Matt Eigen and Brady Taylor will be student manager.

Turnout numbers are down this year due in large part to the opportunities the spring sports season offers student/athletes. Niedfeldt has 43 players for grades 9-12 and 11 seniors to fill up 14-16 varsity spots.

“This is my fifth year as the varsity coach and ninth year in the program,” said Niedfeldt. “I have a passion for teaching and coaching life lessons through hard work and teamwork.”

Senior Luke Eigen is the team’s lone ‘captain’ but Niedfeldt says his team consists of many great seniors!  

“Mitchell Louden has been with me since his sophomore year and has been a solid leader by example,” he said.  “We also have many servant leaders who are willing to do the unpleasant things like showing up early and staying late to help with equipment and raking and any other odds and ends things that need to be done.  Matthew Huffman is a shining example of one of those senior leaders.”

Over Niedfeldt’s tenure, he’s seen many great teams come through the ranks, but he’s not sure his teams have developed any sort of sincere rivalry against local teams. However, the team just east of Becker on Hwy. 10 could possibly be that rival.

“I wouldn’t say that we have any rivalries in the traditional sense where two teams dislike each other and can’t stand one another,” he said.  “We have a pretty natural rivalry with Big Lake just because of how close the two schools are and we play each other in every sport throughout the entire school year.”  

“The other team that has bested us regularly would be Sauk Rapids-Rice,” Niedfeldt says.  “They have eliminated us in the playoffs each of the last three years by very narrow, come from behind victories.  These two teams have been well coached and every time we play, we know that it is going to be a great game and that if we do not play well, we probably aren’t going to win.”

With COVID-19 protocols still in place yet this spring, Niedfeldt finds he and his coaches still have to keep the rules in mind to keep the kids safe.

“We are at the liberty of the virus and potential quarantines,” he said. “As a staff, we are ensuring that our players are following the mask rules and keeping our pods small.  We are continuing to stay socially distanced to the best of our ability and we know that we have a solid system in place to help avoid any contact tracing issues within our program.”

Niedfeldt was an all state baseball player in Wisconsin both his junior and senior years.  He was recruited to play collegiately and even had an offer from the Dodgers to look at joining their system in the minors, but ultimately chose to follow by passion for football and attended SCSU on an athletic scholarship to play football for the Huskies.

No regrets for the head coach as he enjoys his place in the world of teaching kids the game he loves.

“The hardest, and best, part of coaching high school athletes is helping to guide them into becoming the best person they can be by using athletics to teach life lessons,” he said.  “The discipline and dedication it takes to commit to something bigger than yourself is a great starting point.  The sacrifice athletes must make in order to thrive in their sport builds a strong work ethic that will lead them in their lives well after high school athletics.  I know it did for me and that is what we are trying to accomplish in our program here at Becker.”

With the added spring opportunities for student-athletes in lacrosse, rugby and even bass fishing, the coaches at Becker have an extensive athlete pool to recruit players to their teams. 

“We have a very strong group of young players and the future looks great for the program,” he said.  “Mark Kolbinger has done an amazing job with our lower level teams getting and keeping kids interested and having fun so that they continue to come out year after year.  They have enjoyed quite a bit of success along the way as well.”