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North Branch Activities Director Becky Leuer announced recently that Stephen Christensen has been hired as the new head baseball coach at NBHS.

Christensen is a native Faribault, Mn and a graduate of Faribault High School. He played at Winona State University as a pitcher and outfielder. Including a red shirt season, he spent five years in the Division II WSU baseball program. By his junior season, Christensen had decided he wanted to concentrate on pitching. His senior year he was a middle reliever and closer.

He returned to Faribault summers, where he coached the local V.F.W. team for the past five years. He also played with the Faribault Lakers amateur team and was the manager the past two seasons. Last season, he did double duty as the closer, also.

When asked what he liked best about that experience, Christensen responded, “The fun of it was doing whatever was needed.”

“Stephen has expressed a sincere interest in building a competitive program based on fundamentals and one in which athletes learn to compete in a proper and dignified manner both on and off the field. I am extremely pleased to have him as the new head baseball coach and I feel he will continue to build the program using the excellent foundation that was established last year. He has a tremendous amount of knowledge and a great perspective that will make playing high school baseball a great experience for student-athletes,” Leuer commented.

This has been a good year for the new coach. He was married in August and was hired as a teacher in North Branch. He now has the chance to continue to stay involved in baseball, too.

“ I love the opportunity to be the head coach at North Branch. I am currently a math teacher at the middle school and have been living in the area since August. The school and the community have been welcoming and I look forward to having a great career teaching and coaching in North Branch,” Christensen said.

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