“My staff and I have worked hard recruiting Jake the last few years,” said Head Coach Steve Gust. “We’ve targeted him as our top pitching prospect. Our staff deserves a lot of credit for selling our vision to some of the area’s best. This is the first year where we have signed most of the top players on our recruiting board. Jake fits in well with the other top recruits we have signed. We are thrilled to add Jake to our pitching staff.”

Dykhoff is the 12th signee for the 2020-21 signing class for the Golden Eagles. He is the third signee during the late signing period joining junior college pitchers Jackson Schneider (RHP, 6-1 195, Forest Lake, Minn./Century College) and Joey Greco (RHP, 6-2 195, Half Moon Bay, Calif./Cañada College. The trio join early additions Dawson Feuillerat (C, 5-9 190, Argyle, Minn./Stephen-Argyle Central H.S.), Teddy Giefer (1B/LHP, 6-3 170, Courtland, Minn./Minnesota Valley Lutheran H.S.), Alex Koep (LHP, 5-10 160, Parkers Prairie, Minn./Parkers Prairie H.S.), Carter Mulcahy (C, 5-10 165, Perham, Minn./Perham H.S.), Broc Peterson (SS, Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd H.S.), Eric Salvesen (RHP, 6-5 190, Fergus Falls, Minn./Minnesota State Community and Technical College), Brody Sorenson (RHP/3B, Grand Forks, N.D./Red River H.S.), Matthew Thielen (SS, 5-10 150, Wheaton, Minn./Wheaton Area H.S.), and Raudel Wilson (RHP, 6-1 215, Hercules, Calif./De Anza H.S.), as members of the Minnesota Crookston signing class.

Dykhoff helps the Golden Eagles add to a strong returning pitching squad, but also aids in replacing graduated seniors Esten Beneda (Lankin, N.D.), and Clarke Peterson (East Grand Forks, Minn.). The Golden Eagles posted a 4.21 ERA in the shortened 2020 season and will look to improve with the additions of strong pitching prospects including Dykhoff.

“He is a talented pitcher, a very good student, and is a high character young man,” Gust said. “His stuff plays well as a top of the conference starter. His command is his best attribute and he has swing and miss stuff. Jake already has a pretty good fast ball and an above average breaking ball, but we believe he has a chance to be even better in the near future. He is a piece of the puzzle that we have been looking for this off-season. We believe he can help take this program to another level.”

The Golden Eagles had gotten off to a great start to the 2020 season with an 8-5 mark entering NSIC play before the cancellation of the 2020 season due to COVID-19. Minnesota Crookston has a strong core returning with seven seniors coming back with the extra year of eligibility granted. The Golden Eagles have continued to be a program on the rise, as they have made the NSIC Tournament in four of the past five seasons. Minnesota Crookston looks to have one of their most talented rosters yet with their strong core, and a talented recruiting class set to join the fray.
 
The student-athlete listed as having signed a National Letter of Intent or Offer of Admission to play baseball at the University of Minnesota Crookston have been verified by the Minnesota Crookston compliance office once they sign the National Letter of Intent or once the student-athlete has accepted an Offer of Admission for Minnesota Crookston.

Jake Dykhoff (RHP, 6-0 195, Wadena, Minn./Minnesota State Community and Technical College)

As a sophomore, Dykhoff was 1-0 in two appearances with 23 strikeouts and just three walks. He posted a 3.65 ERA in 12.1 innings pitched. He was a junior college teammate of fellow signee Eric Salvesen. At the plate, Dykhoff hit .458 with five runs scored, two doubles, one triple, one home run, and five RBIs. As a freshman, Dykhoff helped the Spartans to a 32-19 record. He went 9-3 during his freshman season with a 2.69 ERA with 94 strikeouts to just 11 walks with 12.63 strikeouts/9 innings. At the plate, Dykhoff had a .379 batting average during his freshman season with six doubles, three triples, four home runs and 33 RBIs. As a freshman, he was named to the MCAC All-State Team. He tossed a perfect game in 2019 against Erie (N.Y.) Community College, striking out 14 of the 21 batters he faced. Dykhoff competed at Wadena-Deer Creek H.S., where he rewrote the baseball record books for the Wolverines. He ended his career as the all-time leader in wins, innings pitched, and strikeouts. Dykhoff was also strong at the plate, where he was the all-time leader in hits, doubles, at-bats, and runs batted in. He hit .456 in his career with 89 runs scored, 156 hits, 44 doubles, four triples, five home runs, and 96 RBIs. On the mound, Dykhoff was 24-11 with a 1.82 ERA in his prep career with over 215 innings pitched. He had 343 strikeouts in his career with just 54 walks. Dykhoff was a finalist for the Minnesota Mr. Baseball Award during his senior season in 2018. He played at Wadena-Deer Creek for his uncle Kyle Dykhoff.

Dykhoff played junior college baseball with his brother Justin Dykhoff.