Five named to South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame

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The South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame will recognize five new members on Aug. 11 at the State Amateur Baseball Tournament in Mitchell.

Paul Raasch, Mick Hoglund, Kent Alm, Jon Westling and Mike West will officially be inducted during a banquet scheduled on Sept. 29 at the Lake Norden Community Center.

Raasch, of Webster, set a state record by playing in 765 straight games during a 25-year career. He had a .375 batting average with 201 career home runs. He also had a record of 154-50 on the mound.

Hoglund, of Dell Rapids, played with Raasch for 13 years in Lake Norden. Hoglund also played for Dell Rapids PBR.

Hoglund’s batting average surpassed .400 in his career and he is No. 2 on South Dakota’s all-time amateur baseball home run list with 336 long balls.

Alm, of Aberdeen, had a 58-11 career record as a pitcher and had a batting average of .400 or better in five seasons. His career batting average finished at .367.

Westling, of Yankton, played for Centerville, Scotland, Avon and Tabor. He played mostly first base, although he also spent some time in the outfield and took the mound as a pitcher.

Westling finished his career with a .387 batting average and more than 200 home runs.

West, of Philip, competed in the NAIA College World Series in Omaha, Neb., in 1959 with Black Hills State College in Spearfish. He had two undefeated seasons as a pitcher in college before leading his amateur teams to state tournaments several times.

Ticket information for the induction banquet will be available in the coming weeks.

Tags: sports, updates, amateur, baseball, avon, scotland, tabor, centerville, mitchell