The University of Jamestown baseball program has signed pitcher/infielder Dane Hagler, the team announced Friday.
Hagler is a senior at North Star High School in Cando, a small town just 36 miles northwest of Devils Lake. He’s a four-sport athlete currently helping the No. 2 Bearcats basketball team to an undefeated season.
“We’re very excited about adding Dane Hagler to the 2024 recruiting class,” Jamestown baseball head coach Tom Hager said. “We think he’s an exceptional athlete. He can do a bunch of different things on the baseball field. We’re really looking forward to seeing the impact that he can make in our program.”
Hager said he’s been watching Hagler play and get better over the course of his high school career. During the fall and early winter, the two sides had multiple conversations and in-person visits. Just this week, they finally got to a point where both Hager and Hagler could comfortably commit to his signing.
“It’s been a long process, but one that was very enjoyable,” Hager said. “He has a first-class family. Throughout this process, it’s been great not only getting to know him, but also his family.”
Hagler’s family includes his uncle, Jake Hagler, a fellow North Star alum who played basketball at Jamestown from 2013 to 2017. Hagler has also had a couple cousins come through Jamestown. He said he liked the homey feel of growing up in Cando, a town of just over 1,000 people, because he always had his cousins close by and felt a family atmosphere with everyone.
“That helped me make my decision of going there,” he said, “because they told me what a great place it is.”
A strong basketball player himself, as well as a quarterback and a track athlete, baseball ended up being the sport he chose to pursue at the next level.
“I feel like that’s kind of my best opportunity to take the next step,” Hagler said. “I feel like I have the best chance in that sport to go somewhere.”
And yet, he’s one of the best players on a North Star basketball team that improved to 10-0 Thursday night — less than 24 hours before Hagler’s baseball signing became official. The 6-foot-5 senior can pretty much do anything on a sports field, track, or court, from throwing a football, to dunking a basketball, to hitting and throwing a baseball.
“When you go watch Dane Hagler play any sport, you know you’re getting 110% effort every night,” Hager said. “And that’s the kind of guy we want in our program.”
Now that Hagler has signed with a collegiate team, he doesn’t have to worry about proving himself to recruiters, or earning a spot with his performance. He already has a spot now, supplanted firmly in place. That doesn’t mean he stops putting in effort and bringing his best performance to every game and practice, but he can relax now. He can have fun playing the sports he’s great at.
And he can help the North Star basketball team keep winning.
“That kind of takes all the pressure away from making my decision to go to college,” Hagler said. “It lets me focus on high school sports. So I wanted to make my decision sooner than later.”
As a pitcher/infielder, it’s still unclear what Hagler is going to end up prioritizing, even with his sport selection narrowed down to baseball. As of now, though, both Hagler and Hager are on the same page about trying him out in both areas.
Hagler, personally, said he likes pitching the best. Though he admitted he could use a couple extra ticks on his fastball.
“As a college recruiter, you want to go find the best possible athletes in the state of North Dakota,” Hager said, “and then figure out what not only best fits them for the rest of their career, but also what fits your team. And over the course of the next year or so, we’re going to continue to see how he develops.”
Hager said that when recruiting players, he prioritizes kids with “God-given talent” — someone who has “the X factors,” as he puts it, along with their hustle, ability to be a great teammate and prowess in the classroom. He said he believes Hagler has a chance to offer that complete package.
“We’ve had an excellent ‘24 recruiting class, and it just got better when we signed him this week,” Hager said.
As his impressive high school career gears towards the finish line, Hagler now has another four years to look forward to. He’s leaving his mark as a Bearcat; now it’s time to leave a mark as a Jimmie.
“I want to be able to take the next step and leave a legacy there,” Hagler said. “Remember my name when I go there.”
Joseph “Mojo” Hill is a reporter covering Lake Region sports for the Devils Lake Journal. Contact him on Twitter @mojohill22 or at jhill@devilslakejournal.com for any tips, questions or story ideas.
