The UND baseball team continued to struggle Saturday in losing 6-0 and 4-0 during a Western Athletic Conference doubleheader against New Mexico State at Kraft Field.
But as Fighting Hawks coach Jeff Dodson has learned the last few days, his players are a hot commodity around college baseball following UND's decision to cut the sport, which became official on Wednesday.
Dodson said he has fielded phone calls from more than 150 schools since the program was dropped.
Zach Muckenhirn, who took the Game 1 loss, is the hottest prospect. The junior left-hander gave up five earned runs, striking out eight and walking none in six innings.
Muckenhirn will be able to almost pick whatever Division I school in the country he'd like to attend next season.
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Muckenhirn, of Delano, Minn., was recently named by Baseball America as the No. 145 best prospect for the upcoming 2016 Major League Baseball draft. By comparison, former UND ace Andrew Thome, who is now pitching in the Houston Astros farm system, was No. 422 on the list last season.
"He's a lefty with velocity," Dodson said. "One other thing a lot of people don't see are his intangibles ... how we competes and how he is in the classroom and his commitment to working out."
UND freshman left fielder Miles Lewis is also a sought-after prospect. Lewis leads UND with a .352 batting average after going 1-for-7 in the doubleheader.
"We have several guys who are getting lots of looks," Dodson said. "It tells you the talent we have here and the recruits we were bringing in. We have guys who are really interested in Miles and Zach. We have a few guys who are already committed, but we're going to wait until after the season to announce to make sure we focus on the games ahead."
UND sophomore Brett Harrison and junior Ben Reznicek are both expected to draw Division I interest, as well. Both Harrison and Reznicek sat out the doubleheader with injuries.
UND, which dropped to 8-33 overall and 4-19 in WAC play, will play its final home game at Kraft Field at noon today against New Mexico State (29-20 overall, 17-6 WAC).
The Fighting Hawks will close out the season with a three-game series next weekend at Cal State Bakersfield.
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