Washington Baseball

Chad Christensen enjoys hot start at Nebraska

Chad Christensen posted some gaudy numbers during his high school baseball career at Cedar Rapids Washington.

Now he's doing the same thing in college for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Christensen went 2-for-4 and hit another home run Friday as Nebraska belted Louisiana Tech, 22-3, before 2,918 fans on a warm day at Hawks Field in Lincoln, Neb.

Christensen is hitting a robust .413 with five homers and 25 RBIs for the streaking Cornhuskers, who have won 13 of their last 16 games and are 13-6 overall for the campaign.

He's also excelled at shortstop, where he's committed only one error in 92 chances for a fielding percentage of .989.

Christensen, a 6-foot-3 junior, hit .262 as a freshman at Nebraska and raised the mark to .292 as a sophomore, but now he's blossomed into one of the top hitters in the Big Ten Conference. He leads the league in hits and RBIs and ranks second in homers and total bases.

"I'm feeling good," he told the Metro Sports Report in a phone interview. "I think things are going pretty well for us right now."

Christensen, 21, said he's learned a lot about hitting this season from Darin Erstad, who became Nebraska's new head coach this year. Erstad played in the Major Leagues for 14 seasons and was a two-time all-star who hit .282 for his career.

"I've learned to be a smarter hitter," Christensen said. "He's always fun to be around, the way he goes about his business every day. He takes it very seriously. You can learn a lot from being around the guy.

"He's all about doing what it takes to win," Christensen said. "He'll talk situations with us, like sitting on certain pitches in certain counts. I've learned a lot and it's definitely helped me as a hitter."

Christensen played the first three games of the season in right field, but he returned to shorstop for the fourth game of the season and hasn't budged since. He was supposed to stay in the outfield this year, but the Cornhuskers needed him back in the infield.

"He hadn't taken any ground balls since August pretty much, and he made the change like he hadn't missed one day there," said Austin Christensen, Chad's younger brother who is a freshman at Nebraska this year. "He's doing very well. He's pretty much led our team."

Austin Christensen, a left-handed pitcher and first baseman, has been nursing a strained ligament in his left elbow and has not played this season, but hopes to start playing in a few weeks.

Chad Christensen socked 42 home runs and drove in 163 runs during his all-state career at Cedar Rapids Washington. He hit .524 with 16 homers and 49 RBIs as a senior when he led the Warriors to the state tournament.

He hit six homers and drove in 15 runs as a freshman at Nebraska, then had only one homer and 16 RBIs as a sophomore. Now his numbers as a junior are starting to match his production in high school.

Nebraska will begin its first season of Big Ten competition with a three-game series against Illinois on March 23-25 after switching from the Big 12 Conference. The Cornhuskers will host the Iowa Hawkeyes in a three-game set on April 6-8.

"Everyone is really excited to be playing in the Big Ten," Chad Christensen said. "It's going to different."

Nebraska has been drawing big crowds at home this season and had 5,298 in the stands for a game against California on March 10.

"I know people are really excited about the program this year and we're trying to do whatever we can to win for them every day," Christensen remarked.

He's certainly doing his part.

A.J. Puk commits to Florida Gators for baseball

Cedar Rapids Washington junior A.J. Puk has accepted a scholarship to play baseball at the University of Florida, he told the Metro Sports Report Wednesday night.

Florida finished second in the College World Series this year and has won two straight Southeastern Conference titles.

Puk, a left-handed pitcher and first baseman, was offered a scholarship when he visited the campus in Gainesville, Fla., last week. He called Coach Kevin O'Sullivan Monday afternoon and accepted the offer.

"They've always been my No. 1 school throughout this whole process," Puk said. "I really like the coach and the facilities are great. I really like it down there."

Puk said he also had offers from Arizona State and the University of Iowa. In addition, he anticipated receiving offers from South Carolina (the 2011 College World Series champion) and Mississippi.

Puk hit .436 with two homers and 26 RBIs for Washington this past season as a sophomore. He went 1-5 as a pitcher with a 4.90 earned run average.

Puk burst onto the national scene this year with his performances at showcases and tournaments in California, Arizona and Florida. His fastball has been clocked at 89 mph and scouts like his swing.

He said Florida has recruited him as a pitcher and hitter. "That's actually why I really like Florida, because they would really like me to be a two-way player," he said.

Puk credited Perfect Game USA of Cedar Rapids with helping his development as a player. "Perfect Game definitely helped a lot," he said. "And my family supported me through the whole time."

Puk began playing for the Cedar Rapids Washington baseball team as an eighth grader. He said he intends to play for the Warriors this season as a junior, but also plans to miss parts of the high school season to play in major tournaments with the Canes, an elite travel team that's based in Virginia.

Puk, 16, quit the Washington football team this past August to play for the Canes in major events. Tony Lombardi, who is Washington's football coach, also will coach the Washington baseball next season. Lombardi said two weeks ago that he'd welcome Puk to the squad.

Lombardi sets goals as new Washington baseball coach

Tony Lombardi held his first meeting as the new baseball coach at Cedar Rapids Washington Tuesday and a 6-foot-4 lefthander with a 90 mph fastball and sweet swing showed up.

That lanky southpaw is A.J. Puk, the same A.J. Puk who left Lombardi's football team this past August to concentrate on baseball and play for a travel team.

Lombardi wants Puk and all the other top athletes at Washington to play baseball, have fun, enjoy some success and revive the program after two losing campaigns.

Puk is being recruited by some of the top college baseball programs in the country. He could play baseball for the Warriors next season or he could stick with travel ball. Maybe he could do both, like Dakota Freese did this past season.

"I'd love to have A.J.," Lombardi said. "There's not a better kid on the planet. He's the nicest kid. So hopefully he wants to play for us. That would be great."

Lombardi, 49, played baseball in high school and was a member of the baseball program at Arizona State University when Barry Bonds was playing for the Sun Devils. Lombardi left the baseball program during his second year on campus to concentrate on being a football player at ASU.

He's coached the freshman baseball team at Washington and would like to help revive the overall program. The Warriors made the state tournament and finished 32-9 in 2009, but they slipped to 11-25 in 2010 and finished 16-22 this past season.

Washington had a tumultuous start to the 2011 campaign when coach Byron Schlotterbach was granted a leave of absence on the second day of practice and ultimately resigned. Brent Henry served as interim head coach during the season, and on Tuesday the school announced Lombardi as the new head coach.

"Coach Lombardi will give us an in-building coach to lead the baseball program," Washington athletic director Paul James said in a press release. "He will provide a great deal of energy, leadership and winning tradition as he builds the numbers in the Warrior baseball program."

Schlotterbach taught at Cedar Rapids Jefferson while he was coaching the Washington baseball team, and Henry taught at Linn-Mar while he coached the Warriors. Lombardi is a physical education instructor at Washington and has run a successful football program at Wash, making the playoffs five times in six years.

"I think I know a little baseball, but I'm not coming in here as a baseball expert," he said. "I'm coming in here as a really committed member of this community.

"I know what boys are coming up and I know what boys are here, and I know that the environment can be more conducive to having a positive baseball atmosphere here at Wash. And I think I can impact it."

Lombardi has two sons, Rocky, a seventh grader, and Beau, a fifth grader, and he's helped coach their youth baseball teams. Both of his sons are talented players. He and his wife, Kari, also have three daughters. Both Lombardis teach and coach at Washington.

Lombardi will be the only coach in the Mississippi Valley Conference who will serve as the head coach in football and baseball during the 2011-12 school year.

"It's going to be a challenge," he said. "But if we can get kids and get them excited about playing baseball and get them to realize we can be successful here, I think we can be."

Lombardi said there were only 39 players in the Washington baseball program this past year in ninth through 12th grades. He said more than 50 guys attended Tuesday's meeting.

"That's a good sign," he said. "We need to get this program healthy. We need to make it fun.

"I know we have good kids in the building who are not playing baseball. So my goal would be to get those kids back involved."

Allen wins twice for Washington swimmers

Jackie Allen won the 50-yard freestyle and swam on the winning 200 freestyle relay Tuesday night for Cedar Rapids Washington in a dual meet with Iowa City West.

Iowa City West captured 10 of 12 events and won the Mississippi Valley Conference event, 122-58, in the Washington pool.

Allen won the 50 freestyle in 27.13 seconds and joined Gloria Campbell, Maddie Dietz and Jackie Hughes on the 200 relay.

Lilian Zhu and Tereysa Lehnertz won two individual events for Iowa City West.

IOWA CITY WEST 122, WASHINGTON 58

200 medley relay - 1. Iowa City West 1:53.84; 2. Washington (Maddie Dietz, Jackie Hughes, McKenzie Asplund, Jackie Allen) 1:58.92; 3. Iowa City West 2:03.90.

200 freestyle - 1. Lilian Zhu (ICW) 2:00.67; 2. Maria Gannon (ICW) 2:02.54; 3. McKenzie Asplund (CRW) 2:04.97.

200 IM - 1. Tereysa Lehnertz (ICW) 2:11.39; 2. Jackie Hughes (CRW) 2:16.23; 3. Savannah Butler (ICW) 2:19.45.

50 freestyle - 1. Jackie Allen (CRW) 27.13; 2. Maddie Dietz (CRW) 27.38; 3. Mackenzie Adrian (ICW) 27.40.

Diving - 1. Alex Aaberg (ICW) 204.80; 2. Amy Parker (CRW) 177.80.

100 butterfly - 1. Lilian Zhu (ICW) 1:02.07; 2. Kathleen Bowman (ICW) 1:04.30; 3. Sarah Ritchie (ICW) 1:06.69.

100 freestyle - 1. Madie Miller (ICW) 59.05; 2. Jackie Allen (CRW) 59.44; 3. Tory Rose (ICW) 1:01.08.

500 freestyle - 1. Maria Gannon (ICW) 5:31.68; 2. Jasmine Roghair (ICW) 5:35.06; 3. McKenzie Asplund (CRW) 5:35.14.

200 freestyle relay - 1. Washington (Gloria Campbell, Maddie Dietz, Jackie Allen, Jackie Hughes) 1:48.35; 2. Iowa City West 1:49.80; 3. Iowa City West 1:51.14.

100 backstroke - 1. Tereysa Lehnertz (ICW) 1:01.24; 2. Sophie Shoultz (ICW) 1:06.67; 3. Madie Miller (ICW) 1:08.41.

100 breaststroke - 1. Savannah Butler (ICW) 1:08.84; 2. Jackie Hughes (CRW) 1:11.02; 3. Meredith Cullen (ICW0 1:19.62.

400 freestyle relay - 1. Iowa City West 3:52.73; 2. Iowa City West 3:58.80; 3. Washington (Gloria Campbell, Hannah Saulnier, Andie Toledo, McKenzie Asplund) 4:04.25.