Scholten Starts Tonight at Home

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AA Sioux City Explorers

Scholten Starts Tonight at Home

August 13, 2024 - American Association (AA)
Sioux City Explorers News Release


KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Iowa State Representative and current Sioux City Explorer J.D. Scholten will continue his fantastic story, making his seventh start of the season tonight at Lewis and Clark Park. Scholten is scheduled to start game one of a three-game series against the Kane County Cougars with a first pitch set for 7:05p.m. The game will air free on radio on KSCJ and on video stream at aabaseball.tv.

Sioux City lost a heartbreaker on Sunday to fall four games behind Kansas City for the final playoff spot and Scholten will once again look to help the club get back on track. The right-hander and state representative has helped secure three series wins and ended a three-game losing streak in another winning start. The Scholten comeback has been covered coast to coast this season and continues to be one of the sports stories that people are talking about this summer.

The background story is this: Sioux City Manager Steve Montgomery needed a starter for the Explorers July 6 game against Milwaukee Milkmen. He turned to Scholten who delivered a quality start for the Explorers. The right-hander went 6.2 innings, scattering seven hits and giving up two earned runs. Scholten then returned to the hill on July 11 at Fargo, tossing 6.0 innings while giving up only one earned run on seven hits and ending a three-game losing streak in a 3-1 win over the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. Scholten picked up his third win when the club returned home on July 20, going 5.1 against the Sioux Falls Canaries in game two of a doubleheader. He allowed one earned run on five hits in a 3-2 win. In the club's lone trip to Texas, he went 4.1 innings in a no-decision against the league's top team, the Cleburne Railroaders. Scholten returned to Siouxland last week and picked up the win over the Lincoln Saltdogs, securing a series win for Sioux City. He hurled another quality start, going 6.1 innings scattering nine hits while allowing a pair of earned runs in a 6-2 win over the Saltdogs. Scholten hit his only real rough patch in his last start in Kansas City where the reigning league champions got to him for seven runs in six innings of work. For the season, Scholten is 4-1 with a 4.15 ERA in 34.2 innings with 16 strikeouts and 12 walks.

In another interesting twist, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown picked up on his amazing story and asked for the cap he wore in his first start against Milwaukee on July 6 for their collection in New York. A few hours after the request, the cap was thought to be lost in the bus fire that the team experienced in the overnight hours traveling to Kane County following the club's win over Lincoln on August 1. A team representative returned to the site of the fire on Sunday, August 4 and found the cap down the side of an embankment next to where the incident occurred, adding another element to the Scholten story. The cap is now not only game worn but also a testimony to surviving a bus fire and has been sent to Cooperstown.

Scholten 44, is a native of Sioux City and is a member of the Iowa House of Representatives, representing District 1 as a Democrat in the state legislature in Des Moines. Scholten attended Morningside College, where he pitched and played first base for three years, and then he transferred to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to pitch for the Nebraska Cornhuskers as a senior. In 2002, he led the Cornhuskers in earned run average. He earned his degree from Nebraska in December 2003. He played baseball and basketball at East High School in Sioux City and was born in Ames. He began his pro career in 2003 and would spend parts of three seasons with the Explorers in 2004 and 2006 - 2007. Scholten made his return to professional baseball last summer, playing in the Dutch League.

The Explorers have set up a file drive for all items related to Scholten, including highlights, interviews and photos available here. For all photos please credit the Sioux City Explorers and all game video courtesy of the American Association. Please feel free to reach out to the club media relations team for any needs, including media availability.

The Explorers will open the three-game series with the Kane County Cougars tonight at 7:05 p.m. For more information or for media requests, please feel free to reach out at 817-739-3693. Tickets for the season can be purchased online at XSBaseball.com, in person at the Lewis and Clark Park Box Office or by calling 712-277-WINS. For more information or for media requests, call 817-739-3693.

TUNE INTO ALL THE EXPLORERS ACTION ON KSCJ AND AABASEBALL.TV.

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