However long he’s here, Kernels’ Nordgren trying to make impression

CEDAR RAPIDS – Miles Nordgren has no idea how long he's going to be here.

It could be a couple of days, it could be more than a couple of days, it could be all season. That's out of his control.

'Just enjoy it while I'm up here,” the Cedar Rapids Kernels relief pitcher said Saturday, after his team's 6-1, 2-1 double-header loss to Kane County at cold and windy Veterans Memorial Stadium. 'If I stay here, it's all for the better. If I don't, I can go work on some more stuff. I'm not really thinking about the move.”

Nordgren joined the Kernels from extended spring training in Florida last week, replacing starting pitcher John Curtiss on the active roster. Curtiss is on the disabled list with a concussion.

He's close to returning to action, however, with Manager Jake Mauer speculating Curtiss' activation could come in time for the Kernels' next series Tuesday through Thursday at Quad Cities. That could mean Nordgren will go back to extended, it could not.

The 22-year-old right-hander is trying to make an impression regardless. He threw a shutout inning Saturday in Game 2 and hasn't given up a run in the 3 1/3 innings he's pitched here.

'I kind of had a feeling I was going to be in extended,” said Nordgren, who pitched last season in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League. 'Just because of all the guys we have, all the pitchers we have. Most of them are a year ahead of me (in development), I guess. But I was excited to get sent here. It's better weather down there, but … it's always good to start a season.”

The Alabaman was a 23rd-round draft pick of the parent Minnesota Twins last summer out of Birmingham-Southern College. He's coming from a road less traveled professionally, a NCAA Division III program.

In fact, Nordgren went to BSC more for football. He was a backup quarterback his first two years, ultimately deciding baseball full time was the way to go.

'I was recruited for both sports, but more on the football side,” he said. 'I tore my meniscus my freshman year, came back and played my sophomore year. It was just a minor surgery. But after that, I was like ‘I don't want to get hurt and miss out on baseball season.' I thought it was best to pick a sport I was better at.”

It was mostly a forgettable day for the Kernels (11-6), who had twice as many errors (4) as runs (2) in this twin-bill. They finished with six hits in the opener and four in the nightcap, being way too aggressive at the plate for their manager's tastes.

Top draft pick Nick Gordon ended up hitting into four double plays (three groundball, one line drive), which pretty much summed things up.

'I'm going to have to start telling them to take pitches because it doesn't seem to be sinking in,” Mauer said. 'We just go up and hack and get ourselves out. It's frustrating. The guys are panicking a little bit, trying to do too much. They're not going to be successful in the long term (that way). They'll be successful in little spurts trying to hit the first pitch. These teams have seen us, so they know they don't have to throw a strike to get us out.”

The teams conclude their three-game series Sunday at 2:05. Twins major league pitcher Ricky Nolasco is scheduled to start on an injury rehabilitation assignment.

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