MITCHELL — Dan Sabers is the new president of the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Association. 

The Mitchell resident was elected as the SDABA’s new president at the annual winter meeting Sunday at the Mitchell Highland Conference Center. He will replace outgoing president Dale Weber, who has served as president for 47 years. 

Sabers and Clark’s Brock Greenfield were the two candidates for the president position. Sabers was nominated by Brad Bartscher and Greenfield was nominated by Richard Rockafellow.

The nine league presidents voted on Sunday, with the decision being 6-3 in favor of Sabers. After some discussion, the presidents submitted their votes on paper ballots. 

The nine league presidents are Don Greenfield (Eastern Dakota), Greg Anglin (Northern Plains), Roger Randall (Pony Hills), Chad Morrison (Cornbelt), Todd Strand (Sunshine), Tom Stotz (South Central), Chris Underberg (State Line), John Sayles (Black Hills) and Steve Bertrand (Sioux Empire). 

A Salem native, Sabers played 17 years of amateur baseball and is also currently the president of the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Association Hall of Fame. Sabers received the 2024 South Dakota Amateur Baseball Association “Man of the Year” award, also known as the Ralph Macy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Weber was recognized for his years of service to the association, and he received a standing ovation from the number of baseball figures in attendance. 

In other news, former secretary-treasurer Herb Sundall is the interim vice president. Bob Altenburg, the former vice president, died on Feb. 6. 

At the meeting, figures were presented for the 2025 season and that included the SDABA pocketing $69,024 in state tourney gate receipts. The association also raked in $20,388.07 in pay-per-view receipts, and the association expressed gratitude to LiveTicket.Tv for producing the livestream. The SDABA stated it will continue its partnership with LiveTicket.Tv for its livestream productions.

The by-law updates were a pro player determination (Class A only) and clearing up language on the allowing youth baseball players to play amateur baseball. 

For the pro player determination, the current rule has reverted to what is written in the by-laws book, stating a maximum of three former professional players. 

A professional player is any player who has actively rostered on a professional-level team for more than 14 days. A player who is no longer playing professionally, upon turning age 35, must have five or more full South Dakota Amateur Baseball Association seasons removed before their professional designation drops off. 

Moving forward, all youth baseball players will be eligible to play amateur baseball. 

“All we did on that was make it more inclusive to youth players, just not Legion,” SDABA secretary-treasurer Chris Braley said. “The rule basically states the same thing we had last year and in the past. It’s clearer that basically it’s all youth players. Because you get in the Sioux Falls area you start running into Sanford and traveling teams. When the rule was developed it was basically Legion baseball in South Dakota.

“We as a commission feel that youth baseball is extremely important to feeding into the amateur program and we are going to try to have those kids stay in youth baseball until they age out.” 

The amateur baseball tournament will be in Mitchell in 2026 and ‘27. The 2028 site was not discussed and will be determined at a later date. 

Salem’s Randy Sabers (District 3B), Aberdeen’s Ace Boschee (District 2B) and Brookings’ Aaron Jorenby (District 9A) were re-appointed commissioners. 

The South Dakota Baseball Coaches Association awarded coaches of the year to the following individuals: 

District 1B — Dan Haug — Castlewood Ravens

District 2B — Lonni Stover and Keith Gall — Redfield DQ

District 3B — Jaxon Christenson and Wes Kroupa — Kimball/White Lake

District 4B — Chad Morrison — Hartford/Humboldt Gamecocks 

District 5B — Doug Sudbeck and Landon Sudbeck — Parkston Devil Rays

District 6B — Dustin Livingston — Irene Cardinals

District 7B — Brandon Ruud — Beresford Blues

District 8A — Jesse Riddle — Rapid City Diamondbacks

District 9A — Dalton Allen — Harrisburg Woodies