A native of Circle Pines, Minn., Max enters his second season as a graduate assistant coach for the Augustana baseball team in 2018.
In his first season with the Vikings, they won 37 games, including 29 conference games to go along with two wins in the NSIC conference tournament.
As a team, Augustana hit for a .305 batting average, carried by senior Patrick O’Donnell who led the Vikings with a .407 average and blasted 20 doubles, tied for the team lead.
Senior Kris Ashland broke the single-season home run record, blasting 17 long balls over the fence. The Bloomington, Minnesota native was one of six Vikings to hit over .300 on the year.
Ashland also lead the team in RBIs, driving in 62 runs, which is tied for the fifth most in a single-season in school history.Â
Max comes to Augustana after spending the last two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach at North Dakota State University.
Prior to serving as a volunteer assistant he was a standout for the Bison. Casper is NDSU’s all-time leader in sacrifice hits (33) and defensive assists (623) and is tied with former Bison standout outfielder Tim Colwell for most career starts (208). He made 169 straight starts in his three-plus years on the infield for the Bison, compiling a .292 career batting average with 205 hits, 16 doubles, five triples, 81 RBI and 33 walks.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in sport and recreation leadership and a minor in public relations and advertising he spent five seasons playing independent professional baseball with the American Association’s Sioux Falls Pheasants and Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks, and the Frontier League’s Joliet Slammers and Lake Erie Crushers.
Casper is pursuing he master’s degree in Sports Administration and Leadership at Augustana.
