Schmidt finding his groove in summer Jayhawk League

• Finding his groove

Mount Marty’s Jason Schmidt slides into third base during a game at the GPAC baseball tournament at Cadwell Park in May. Schmidt, a Mitchell native, is playing in the Jayhawk League, a college invite-only league, this summer. (Leah Rado/Republic)

Talk about it

After Jason Schmidt and the Mount Marty baseball team were eliminated from the NAIA national tournament in May, the Mitchell native accepted a request to play in an invite-only league for the summer.

Schmidt — a former Mitchell baseball standout — moved to Dodge City, Kan., to live with a host family and play for the A’s in the Jayhawk League.

One of 16 leagues in the National Baseball Congress, the Jayhawk League is comprised of six teams with nothing but collegiate baseball players. It is played solely with wooden bats and has hosted major league players such as Albert Pujols, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds.

“There’s no cheap hits in this league; you have to earn everything you get,” said Schmidt, who, in his sophomore year with the Lancers, batted .455 and started all 55 games. “Right now, I’m not doing quite as well as I was (at Mount Marty). I’m not quite up to that par, yet.”

A shortstop and relief pitcher in college, Schmidt has fit comfortably in the same positions for Dodge City, a town of 28,000.

Through Monday, Schmidt was batting .267 with three RBIs and two doubles in 15 at-bats for the A’s, who are 4-3 in league play and 9-3 overall. He also has pitched 3.2 innings.

Second-year A’s coach, Jeremy Irlbeck, said his “top shortstop” is starting to get acclimated to playing in the Jayhawk League.

“This weekend he kind of put his stamp on the shortstop position and made pretty much every play we needed him to,” Irlbeck said. “Right now, he’s probably our top shortstop, so we’re going to run with that for a little bit, and that’s probably why he hasn’t pitched as much.”

Mount Marty coach Andy Bernatow sent two names to Irlbeck near the end of the Lancers’ season. Schmidt was one, and another Mitchell native, Nick Wenande, was another.

“I have known (Mount Marty coach) Andy Bernatow fairly well through the years,” said Irlbeck, who previously coached at Minnesota West Community College in Worthington, Minn. “He was looking to place one of his better guys in the Jayhawk League, and he felt comfortable sending Jason down here to play for us.”

Although Wenande couldn’t join because of a summer internship, Schmidt obliged.

He and another one of his new teammates moved in with a host family in Dodge City. Now, Schmidt and the A’s are playing roughly five to six games weekly.

“Each day, it gets better and better, because I’m starting to get to know the guys more,” Schmidt said. “Right away, I was kind of sketchy about it, because I didn’t know what my host family would be like … but everything has turned out just fine.”

Only 12 games into a 34-game schedule, Dodge City needs to win the Jayhawk League or get an at-large bid to the 32-team National Baseball Congress World Series Tournament in August.

Though, winning games isn’t everything to the players in the Jayhawk League.

“Through the scouting bureau, it seems like I’m talking to a scout at pretty much every conference or league venue,” Irlbeck said. “Usually in this league, if you put up decent numbers, people are going to talk about you, and the opportunities to get seen, get exposure and get on someone’s radar are usually pretty good.”

However, the exposure and the prestige of the Jayhawk League don’t seem to be enough for Schmidt.

“Probably not,” he said of returning next year. “It’s good baseball, but I just don’t see all the benefit. I could be working and umpiring, making some money. Down here, I can’t do that.”

Tags: college baseball, jason schmidt, sports, baseball