Cardinals Pitcher Dean Kiekhefer Played Summer Ball in Evansville

On Saturday night, pitcher Dean Kiekhefer made his major league debut with the St. Louis Cardinals, stepping on the mound at Dodgers' stadium to throw 27 pitches over one and two-thirds innings of relief in the Cards 5-3 loss. And like so many aspiring baseball players, the journey to get to this moment was a long one. However not all the journeys include two summers playing ball in Evansville like Kiekhefer's did.

The lefty from Buckner, Kentucky (just northeast of Louisville) spent the summers of 2006 and 2007 playing baseball for the Evansville Razorbacks 18U team after being asked to join the by Razorbacks' coach, Jeremy Johnson.

During the Cardinals Caravan stop at the University of Southern Indiana back in January, Kiekhefer recalled his days playing with the Razorbacks in an interview with Evansville Courier and Press reporter, Pat Hickey, saying the decision to play for a team over two hours away from home was easy as the only competitive baseball available in the town of just under 6,000 residents was through the American Legion.

He packed his bags and headed west to Evansville, where he spent four days a week each summer playing ball and living at the home of local State Farm agent, and Razorback's assistant coach, Bob Davis.

Kiekhefer remembers the days of crashing at the Davis house fondly, telling Pat Hickey, "All of us guys not from this area lived at Bob Davis' house. He had a huge basement we'd bunk up, play Ping-Pong and cards. We had a great time."

His time with the Razorbacks gave him the exposure he needed to catch the eye of college scouts, including those from the University of Louisville, just under an hour and a half drive from his hometown, who offered him a scholarship. The team made the College World Series his freshman year.

He played for those Cardinals through his junior year before being selected in the 36th round of the 2010 MLB Draft by the big league Cardinals.

Until his debut over the weekend, Kiekhefer, spent the past few years playing for the team's Triple-A affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds, where he was holding left-handed batters to a .105 batting average this season before being called up.

While the team didn't get the win in his debut, his former coaches here in Evansville were certainly happy to see him make the big time.