Riverland baseball player Tyler Krekling is pretty sure that he made the right choice when he signed his national letter-of-intent to play baseball at Division II Concordia University St. Paul for a partial athletic scholarship last week.

After all, Krekling passed up on his brother’s alma matter and a chance to play with one of his former teammates at Hayfield High School, when he chose the Golden Bears, who are off to a 14-10 overall start this season.

“I wanted to play Division II baseball and be the best I can be,” Krekling, who is a sophomore outfielder and lead-off hitter at RCC, said. “They’re graduating two senior outfielders, so I’ll have a chance to play right away. But it’s not going to be handed to me and I’ll have to work for it.”

Krekling also had an offer from Division II Bemidji State, where Hayfield grad Tyler Nelson is red-shirting this season and Division III Waldorf College, where Tyler’s older brother and current Hayfield baseball coach Kasey Krekling played, also showed interest.

Krekling feels good about Concordia and the coaching staff that is in place.

He also looks back at his decision to go to RCC as a good one and he was pleased with how RCC head coach Scott Koenigs assisted in his recruiting process.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that it was the right decision for me,” Krekling, who graduated from Hayfield High School in 2010, said. “At a bigger school, I would’ve had to sit for two years and instead I was playing and getting stronger. My swing is a lot better than it was in high school.”

The Blue Devils are set to play a doubleheader at RCTC Saturday at 1 p.m. in their conference opener.

Concordia St. Paul plays in the Northern Sun Conference.