Dual Threat (Jesse Kurtenbach & Nate Henry)

by Phil McIlrath, KDLT News
July 05, 2010 6:02 PM


We travel to Dell Rapids this week and meet a couple of sluggers from the Mudcats who are putting up impressive numbers.  Two friends, two teammates who sum up the spirit of baseball.

Ask any pitcher and he'll tell you. There's usually only one slugger to worry about per team, but with the Dell Rapids Mudcats there's two.

Leading off, Jesse Kurtenbach, who recently hit two homers in the same inning. Batting third, Nate Henry who has two grand slams in the same game to his credit. So, with a dual threat is one trying to out do the other?

Nate Henry says, "Jesse is aware that I am a lot stronger than he is. I think he's afraid of me."

Jesse Kurtenbach says, "There is no competition because Nate's dad keeps the books, so no matter what he's does he's always gonna have better stats than I do. And that's the truth!"

All kidding aside. If there isn't any competition what keeps those balls going over the fences?

Jim Wilbur says, "They love baseball, that's the first thing. They excel at it, and they work at it. They're two of the premier sluggers not only in the Cornbelt League, but in the state of South Dakota.

Jesse says, "If I hit one, he hits one and it's kind of fun that way."

These guys are good. So, is there a secret to their slugging success?

Nate says, "I just drink a lot of milk and eat a lot of oreos."

Jesse says, "Well Nate didn't tell you this, but he did P-90X last fall and I did it this spring."

Maybe there is no secret diet, but there is a deep love for the game.

Jesse says, "I just love playing baseball. I'd do it for free."

Nate says, "It's a lot of fun. It's what we know. It's what we do in the summer time."

Jim says, "That's the key to amateur baseball is loving to play it. Loving the game, putting everything into it and getting everything out of it."