The 2020 induction class for the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame definitely has plenty of northeastern South Dakota ties.
The induction class includes Clark native Gene Lorenz, Redfield native Rich Osborn, Claremont native Curt Cutler and Scott Bartholomew — a former northeastern South Dakota teacher, coach and administrator at Waubay, South Shore and Tiospa Zina. He now lives in Wheaton (Minn.).
The fifth inductee, Steve Fejfar of Elk Point, played college baseball at Northern State University in Aberdeen.
The Class of 2020 will be honored on Saturday, Aug. 8 during the state tournament at Mitchell. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, plans for the Hall of Fame induction banquet have not been finalized. More details will be released in the coming months.
The South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame is located in Lake Norden.
Here are the biographies on the 2020 inductees:
Gene Lorenz
An all-around athlete, the 1981 Clark High School graduate played football, basketball and baseball at Northern State University in Aberdeen.
After leading Clark to the 1982 State B American Legion baseball title and earning Class B Player of the Year honors, Lorenz was a three-year starter in baseball at NSU and batted .481 and tied the school record for home runs in a season (15) as a senior first baseman in 1985. He led the Wolves to the NAIA District 12 championship and a berth in the Area III tournament that season.
Lorenz also enjoyed success on the baseball diamond as an amateur baseball player for the Clark Cubs, Clark Graceland Gardens, Aberdeen Wendy’s-co*ke and the Madison Broncos from 1983 through 1993 when back issues forced him to step away from the game.
Noted as a middle-of-the-order hitter, Lorenz often batted over .400 with power. In 1992, he clubbed three homers and drove in six runs to lead the Madison Broncos to a 6-5 win over Vermillion in the championship game of the State B tournament. He is one of only 11 players in state history to hit at least three homers in a state-tournament game.
Lorenz also enjoyed some success on the mound. In 1985, he was the winning pitcher in the semifinals and also pitched in Clark Graceland Gardens’ loss to Claremont in the state B championship game — earning all-tournament honors.
Lorenz’s teams qualified for the state tournament every year except one.
Scott Bartholomew
The Rochester (Minn.) native moved to South Dakota in 1991 and pieced together a notable amateur baseball career that extended more than 20 years, both as a pitcher and outfielder.
Although not very big, Bartholomew — who played baseball at Bemidji (Minn.) State University — often surprised people with how hard he threw and his knowledge of pitching.
His South Dakota amateur career began in the early 1990s in Webster where he led the Webster Dux to the district title in 1993 and was drafted as a pick-up player by Bryant in 1994.
The left-handed pitcher won his final 12 games as a member of the Webster team, highlighted by a 20-strikeout game against Clark in 1994.
From 1995 through 2000, Bartholomew continued to mow down hitters as a member of the Aberdeen Wendy’s-Cole squad. The win streak he started in Webster grew to 28 consecutive games with Aberdeen (1993-96). For Aberdeen, he went 12-0 in 1995 and 16-1 in 1999.
He also played for Milbank, Lake Norden, Britton and Redfield.
Bartholomew also recorded an 18 strikeouts while tossing a no-hitter for Milbank. He threw no-hitters in three different decades, also tossing one in Minnesota in 1981 and another for Aberdeen Wendy’s-co*ke in 1995.
He competed one year with the South Dakota Rushmores in the 30-and-over division of the Men’s Senior Baseball World Series at Arizona and six years with South Dakota’s 53-and-over team in the Roy Hobbs World Series at Florida.
Curt Cutler
The Claremont native and 1975 Langford High School graduate enjoyed a 28-year amateur baseball career that began in the late 1970s and continued into the early 2000s.
A talented hitter and left-handed pitcher, Cutler was a key figure on the Dell Rapids PBR teams that enjoyed a great run of state Class B success in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Cutler played for Claremont, Huron National Bank and Sioux Falls Sioux Nation Vet Supply before playing on two state-championship teams for Dell Rapids PBR. He also played on six state runner-up squads in a career that included 20-plus state tournaments.
Cutler batted .325 during his career and won Corn Belt League batting championships in 1984 and 1985. On the mound, his talent included a pickoff move that produced a state-record 160 pickoffs during his career.
Cutler earned all-tournament honors twice in the state tournament and played on many South Dakota teams that enjoyed success in the Men’s Senior Baseball World Series at Arizona and the Roy Hobbs World Series in Florida.
He is joining his father Keith and brothers Frank and Sherm in the Hall of Fame.
Rich Osborn
The Redfield native certainly had a lot of do with helping Redfield Dairy Queen become one of the state’s best amateur baseball teams in the 1990s and 2000s.
Osborn started his amateur career as a Legion eligible player and was involved as a record-setting 22-inning game as a catcher. He played college ball at Northern State University in Aberdeen and played five years with Aberdeen Wendy’s-co*ke before returning to his hometown.
He not only helped restart amateur baseball in Redfield in 1992, but became the player-manager for teams that won 21 district titles and state Class B championships in 2000 and 2006. He also started the Redfield Baseball Association, which spearheaded the renovation of the Redfield ballpark.
Noted for his receiving skills and game-calling ability behind the plate, Osborn also used a strong arm to limit running options for opposing teams.
A top-of-the-order hitter with good power, Osborn compiled a .390 career batting average, .500 on-base percentage and 1,000-plus hits during a career. He earned Class B all-tournament honors in the state tourney three times.
In 2006, Osborn delivered the game-winning hit in Redfield’s 8-6 extra-inning victory over Wynot (Neb.) in the state championship game.
Steve Fejfar
The Tabor native has put up some very impressive accomplishments during an amateur baseball career that started in the mid-1980s and extended more than 30 years.
Fejfar led Tabor to the state Class B Legion baseball title in 1985 and earned Class B Player of the Year honors before becoming a two-time All-District 12 and one-time All-Northern Interstate Conference selection at Northern State University in Aberdeen, where he set the school’s single-season stolen base record with 26.
He has played two stints with the Tabor Bluebirds during his amateur career and has also suited up for the Sioux Falls Silver Bullets, Vermillion Red Sox, Vermillion Grey Sox and Elk Point Colt 45s.
Fejfar played with the Silver Bullets’ teams won state Class A titles in 1990 and 1992 and the Vermillion Red Sox that won state Class B titles in 2003 and 2004 as well as state Class B runner-up teams in 1996 (Red Sox) and 2011 (Tabor) — Tabor’s first state-championship appearance since 1947.
He’s smacked 12 career state tournament home runs — homering in four different decades as well as clubbing a wood-bat homer at age 50 in 2017 — and also collected five hits in a state-tourney game in 2011.
Fejfar has played in numerous state tournaments, all with his own teams, and earned all-tourney honors several times. He has hit more than 200 home runs during his amateur career. He’s also played more than 20 years for South Dakota teams in the Men’s Senior Baseball World Series in Arizona.
