Growing up, senior Deryk Marks lived on the baseball field.  His father, Brian, who played collegiate baseball at Southwest State University in Marshall, Minn., and then amatuer ball with the Marshall A's, put him on the field while Marks was still in diapers, and the love of the game stuck.

"I grew up on a baseball field," Marks said.  "From the time I could walk, I was always on the field.  It's just something that's always been a part of my life."

When Marks turned 10 years old, he joined a 12-year old traveling team, with his father as the coach, and spent his summers throughout elementary and middle school traveling the region and playing in tournaments.

"My dad was always the coach growing up," Marks said.  "He passed that love of baseball onto me." 

When Marks reached high school, he played legion ball for Post 98 and for the Park High School Wolfpack.

His senior year, Marks hit .500 and helped his team to a third-place finish in the sectional tournament.

The 2007 graduate won numerous awards after an outstanding senior season, in which he hit .500 and led the Wolfpack to a 16-8 record and third-place finish in the section tournament.  That year, Marks was named to the all-conference, All-Metro (first team), All-State and Academic All-State teams.

Despite the awards and impressive statistics, Marks wasn't on the radar of many top baseball schools.

"I didn't get too many offers out of high school," Marks said, "and I was torn between playing hockey and baseball."

In the end though, Marks chose baseball, turning down offers to play both sports at a few Division III schools, and attended Iowa Central Community College (ICCC) in hopes of gaining exposure from a succesful college baseball program.

"I knew if I wanted to play baseball I wanted to go to community college," Marks said.  "It gave me a good opportunity to improve my game and play most of the games."

In his second year at ICCC, Marks started all 55 games for the team, tallied 59 hits for a batting average of .335 and recorded 49 runs batted in (RBIs). 

Also, Marks was awarded a National Junior College Athletic Association Rawling Gold Glove because of a .942 fielding percentage.

When his time at ICCC ended, Marks made the decision to attend Augustana, knowing he would have the opportunity to be a leader on the team.

"I wanted to be a main guy on the team," Marks said.  "I suppose I could have gone elsewhere and been a support player, but Augie gave me the chance to be one of the top players."

That opportunity has so far played itself out, as Marks broke three school records: hits (94), doubles (21) and RBIs (78) in a single season, and was a main reason behind the team-record 34 wins last season.

Marks was named to the All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) first team and All-Central Region, and was named NSIC Newcomer of the Year.  He also earned a spot on the Rawlings/ABCA Gold Glove Team and earned All-American second team honors from Rawlings/ABCA and Daktronics.

"I expected to have success last season," Marks said, "but not as much as I did."

Over the summer, Marks played for the St. Cloud River Bats, a team in the Northwoods League, and hit .263 in 46 games for the team.

Marks again has high hopes for the season, and so far is living up to them, hitting .377 with 26 hits, 22 runs and 13 RBIs through 17 games (as of Wednesday, March 30).

After the season, Marks has hopes to be drafted but is also realistic of his prospects.

"Obviously it's a goal," Marks said.  "Being drafted is always something you hope for.  Do I see it happening, though? Probably not, but it'd be great if it did."

If Marks isn't drafted, he hopes to play with an independent or amatuer baseball team.

"I definitely want to keep playing ball," Marks said.  "Just because this is my senior season doesn't mean it's my last year of playing baseball.  We'll see what happens, though.  I'm just looking to enjoy this last year and hopefully help our team make some noise this season."

The Vikings continue their season this weekend with games against Bemidji State.