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Twins sign Westphal

Former Clintonville Trucker standout baseball player Luke Westphal has signed a free agent minor league contract with the Minnesota Twins.

Westphal starred for the Truckers during his varsity career and helped the Clintonville American Legion Post 63 baseball team earn a trip to Nationals in 2008.

After high school, he played baseball for the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. During his four-year college career, Westphal made 29 starts among his 40 appearances and produced a 17-10 record with a 3.08 earned run average and 197 strikeouts in 207.2 inning pitched.

In 2011, Westphal earned NCAA Division III All-America honors by D3baseball.com (second team) and the American Baseball Coaches Association (third team) after posting a 7-0 record with 64 strikeouts and a 1.34 earned run average in 60.1 innings pitched. He held opponents to a .184 batting average, allowed one run in six of his eight starts and ceded just six extra-base hits.

Westphal had his best outing of the 2011 season against UW-Stout. He struck out 16 Blue Devils and allowed four hits and one unearned run in a 6-1 complete-game victory. His 16 strikeouts trail only former major leaguer Jarrod Washburn’s 17 in school history and are the sixth most in WIAC annals.

The two-time All-WIAC First Team selection totaled additional won-lost records for the Titans of 2-0 in 2009, 4-4 in 2010 and 4-6 in 2012. Following the 2012 season, Westphal managed the Oshkosh Giants of the Wisconsin State League.

The past two summers, Westphal pitched for the Gateway Grizzlies of the independent Frontier League. He registered a 3-5 record with a 2.58 earned run average and 89 strikeouts in 69.2 innings pitched.

In October, Westphal was traded to the Joliet Slammers of the Frontier League, but the Minnesota Twins bought his contract before he appeared in a game for the Slammers.

This winter, Westphal pitched for the Doncaster Dragons of Australia’s Baseball Victoria Summer League. A starter in 14 games for the Dragons, Westphal earned 141 strikeouts and posted a 0.49 earned run average in 80 innings pitched.

Westphal reported to spring training with the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers, Florida, near the end of February.

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