CROOKSTON, Minn. - The University of Minnesota Crookston baseball team completed their staff with the hiring of Rich Loomis and Scott Mortenson. Loomis will be the pitching coach for the Golden Eagles, while Mortenson will help the catchers and will assist Loomis. Mortenson will also help out with baserunning. 

The two join Head Coach Steve Gust in his 10th season with the Golden Eagles. They add to a staff that returns Dalton Parks and T.J. Hokanson, who both are heading into their third seasons as assistants for the Golden Eagles. Both Parks and Hokanson are former players for the Golden Eagles. In addition, Parks has been named recruiting coordinator for Minnesota Crookston.

Loomis joins Minnesota Crookston after spending two seasons as the head coach at Northland Community and Technical College. Loomis is a native of East Grand Forks, Minn. He attended North Dakota State University for a year, where he played one year of collegiate football, before transferring to Valley City State University, where he played football and baseball from 1987-91. Loomis was an all-conference and all-district pitcher in 1991, and an all-conference pitcher in 1990. He was an honorable mention all-conference outfielder in 1987-88.

After college, he played two seasons of semi-pro baseball with the Moose Jaw Astros. 

As head coach for the Northland Pioneers, Loomis helped increase the team's win total by eight games in his first season, and improved it to six more wins in 2023, as the team finished just short of .500 with an 18-20 mark. 

Prior to Northland, he was a pitching coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point from 2015-17. Previously, he worked with Coach Gust as a pitching coach at Dakota Wesleyan University from 2013-14. He was a co-head coach for the Angels Pro Scout Team and Angels Amateur Baseball in Phoenix, Ariz., from 2011-14. Loomis was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Trinidad State College in Colorado from 2002-05. Additionally, he was a graduate assistant pitching coach at Barry University in Florida from 1993-94, and coached with the Wisconsin Woodchucks in 2004. He got his start in coaching with the junior team in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, helping the team to provincial championships, the Western Canadian Championship, and qualified his team for the Canadian National Championships. 

"Rich has a wealth of experience that will only help this program," Gust stated. "He has worked in nearly every facet of the game. Our pitchers will definitely benefit from his experience and knowledge of pitching. His overall experience will impact all aspects of Minnesota Crookston baseball."

Mortenson played for the Golden Eagles in 2017 and 2018 as an outfielder. As a junior, he played in 28 games, with 17 starts. Mortenson hit .235 and had a .316 on-base percentage. In his senior season, he played in 38 games, and started 27. Mortenson hit .253, with 13 runs scored, three doubles, one triple, one home run, and eight RBIs. Mortenson most recently coached with Fargo Youth Baseball, where he worked with former Golden Eagle Assistant Coach Alex Sumner, and former Golden Eagle player Zach Frazier. Mortenson coached the 14U squad. In addition, he was the DakMinn prospects 18U coach for North Valley Baseball Academy. Mortenson also helped out as a youth baseball coach for the City of East Grand Forks. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota Crookston in 2019. 

"We are excited to add another alum to our staff," Gust said. "He has taken pride in our program ever since he played. He has a passion and desire to do whatever it takes for our program to be successful. He will be a utility coach, helping out wherever we need it."