Minnesota senior catcher Bryan Guse became the third Gophers player to get drafted this year when the San Francisco Giants selected him in the 23rd round Wednesday.
Guse, who hit .339 this season with five home runs, said getting drafted wasn’t so much a surprise as which team drafted him. He said he hadn’t heard from the Giants at all until Wednesday.
“Not a word,” Guse said. “No contact at all. When I was talking to John (Gophers coach Anderson), he didn’t even mention the Giants as a team that was looking at me.”
Left-handed hitting catchers are scarce, which boosted Guse’s draft stock. He also helped himself by improving his defense immensely since he was converted from infield to catcher two seasons ago. He threw out 39 percent of baserunners who tried to steal on him in 1997.
The New Brighton native said he’s signing for a $2,500 bonus.
Gophers senior pitchers Mike Diebolt (seventh round, Detroit Tigers) and Justin Pederson (15th, Kansas City Royals) were selected Tuesday.
Quinlan is team MVP
Sophomore Robb Quinlan won the Gophers baseball team’s Richard “Chief” Siebert Memorial Most Valuable Player Award at the team’s annual post-season banquet on Sunday.
Quinlan, an outfielder from Maplewood, hit 13 home runs and drove in 53, both team highs. He also hit .363 and set a school record single-season with 29 doubles.
Senior Mike Diebolt, a seventh-round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers, was named the Dave Winfield Pitcher of the Year. Diebolt broke Winfield’s 24-year-old record for strikeouts in a season with 110.
Senior infielder Eric Welter won the Paul Molitor Batting Champion Award with a .375 batting average.
Jensen in 10th at NCAAs
Sophomore decathlete Benjamin Jensen lived up to his top-10 rank after the first day of decathlon competition Wednesday at the NCAA championships in Bloomington, Ind.
Jensen holds 10th place after five events with 3,745 total points. Aaron Fox from the University of Texas leads the 16 decathlon competitors with 4,193 points.
Jensen started off strong in the 100-meter dash — the first event of the decathlon. He placed eighth in the race, clocking a time of 11.17 and earning 823 quick points.
Next came the long jump, the first of three straight field events. Jensen placed sixth in the first heat of jumpers, but ended up 13th overall with a mark of 21 feet, 9 inches. He was awarded for his performance with 727 points.
Jensen also finished 13th in the shot put. He earned 624 points, recording a throw of 40-4. He then tied for 11th in the high jump by clearing 6-2 3/4 and claiming 714 points.
The 400 marked Jensen’s highest finish of the day. He placed fourth, clocking a 49.09 and adding 857 points to his five-event total.
The national decathlon title will be claimed today after the final five events are completed. These events include the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500.
Jensen has three Minnesota teammates who have also qualified to compete at the NCAA meet. They are: Staffan Strand (high jump), Jason Schlueter (discus) and Vesa Rantanen (pole vault). Those three athletes will compete on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, respectively.
— Allison Younge