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University of Wisconsin-Superior Athletics

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Wisconsin-Superior
Yellowjackets

Frank Pufall

Frank Pufall enters his fifth season as head baseball coach at UW-Superior in 2021.

Pufall's Yellowjackets had their 2020 season cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. UWS managed a 2-4 record with wins over Carroll at U.S. Bank Stadium (10-7 on Feb. 25) and Grinnell in Topeka, Kan. (12-10 on March 8).

Off the field, Pufall helped UWS earned the American Baseball Coaches Association's Team Academic Excellence Award, given annually to collegiate programs with a 3.0 or better grade-point average over the academic year. The 'Jackets posted a 3.018 mark in 2019-20. The honor is the first for a Pufall-coached team.

In his third season, Pufall led the 2019 Yellowjackets to the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference championship series after winning three games in two days as the tournament's No. 4 seed. UWS finished with a 18-22 overall record and was 9-7 in the league. The overall win total is believed to tie the school record, dating back to the 1960s. Pufall led his team to its first win against local rival and top-seeded St. Scholastica, 2-0, in the UMAC tournament for the first time since 1991. It marked the program's fourth consecutive trip to the postseason and third under his watch.

Six players were named All-UMAC, including catcher Cory Albertson, who, earlier in the season, was also tabbed the only active player to be named to the UMAC's All-Decade Team.

UWS went 12-26 in his second season and earned the fifth seed in the UMAC tournament with a 8-8 league record. Albertson was named UMAC Player of the Year and to the All-UMAC First Team. He was the NCAA leader in home runs per game at 0.38, earning ABCA All-Region and D3baseball.com All-Region honors. Albertson led the UMAC in RBIs (42), home runs (13) and slugging percentage (.847). He was also second in the conference in batting average (.411) and hits (51).

In his first season at UW-Superior, Pufall guided the Yellowjackets to 16 wins and a berth in the 2017 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference tournament. The 'Jackets landed three players on the All-UMAC teams, including Chad Patko on the first team and Richard Vanden Branden and Albertson as honorable-mention selections.

In total, Pufall has mentored 13 All-UMAC performers, 17 UMAC All-Academic selections and three all-region players in his time as head coach at UWS. Additionally, utility player Braeden Barr became the first in the history of the baseball program to be a Google Cloud Academic All-America®. Barr was a Division III third-team honoree, as chosen by the College Sports Information Directors of America. The award, which recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom, is just the third such honor in UW-Superior history.

Prior to his time at UWS, Pufall spent two seasons as an assistant coach at NCAA Division II Minnesota Duluth. During his two seasons, the Bulldogs posted a record of 74-32 (.698) and, in 2016, set a school record for wins in a season (39) on the way to winning the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular-season championship. Pufall coached the 2016 NCAA Division II Player of the Year and Philadelphia Phillies draft pick Alex Wojciechowski, as well as two others who signed professional contracts (Bo Hellquist – Minnesota Twins and Jimmy Heck –  Tucson Saguaros of the independent Pecos League).
 
Prior to UMD, Pufall was an assistant baseball coach at Northland in Ashland, Wis. Also during that period, Pufall served as the head baseball coach at Washburn (Wis.) High School from 2010-14. In 2013, He led the Castle Guards to just their second sectional tournament in school history, ending a 62-year drought between appearances.

Pufall played collegiately at Vanderbilt, graduating in 1999. He is nearing completion of his Master's degree in education at Minnesota Duluth. Pufall and his wife Rachel live in Ashland, Wis., with their two sons, David and Augustus.
 
Pufall at UW-Superior
Year W L Pct.
2020 2     4     .333
2019 18 22 .450
2018 12 26 .326
2017 16 27 .372
Total 48 79 .378