Two former Lewis-Clark State baseball players, Elliot Strankman and Trevor Brown, have been hired as scouts with the Minnesota Twins, the organization has announced.

Strankman (shown left) has been hired as the Twins’ scout for northern California, while Brown will be the team’s scout for the Pacific Northwest. Both were hired on Dec. 5.

Strankman was an infielder at LCSC during 1997-2000 where he was a four-year starter. He hit .338 while starting 35 games during his freshman year and then led the Warriors in RBI with 48 as a sophomore. He also hit .343 and had 17 doubles that season. The Richland, Wash., product missed part of his junior season with an injury, but still won the team’s Golden Glove Award. He hit .333 with 48 RBI and five home runs and was named to the Pacific Northwest Region I All-Independent Team.

Strankman was named the Most Outstanding Player for the Warriors during his senior season. He hit .362 that season with 19 doubles, 10 home runs and 64 RBI. He again was named to the 2000 Pacific Northwest Region I All-Independent Team along with Brown.

In the summer of 2000, Strankman was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 12th round of the Major League Baseball draft with the 361st pick overall.  He spent a little more than a year in the minor leagues before getting into coaching.

Strankman served as an assistant coach for the Alaska Goldpanners for a couple of seasons when LCSC coach Ed Cheff served as the head coach of the Goldpanners. He also served as MoscowHigh School’s baseball coach in 2003.

Strankman later became head coach at OccidentalCollege in the Los Angeles area for three seasons, completing his final year this past spring.

Strankman made his mark in the coaching profession with the Green Bay Bullfrogs, an expansion team in the Northwoods Summer League. Strankman led the team to the regular season title in 2007 and was named the league’s Manager of the Year. He also coached the team in 2008 and barely missed the playoffs.

Brown came to LCSC in 2000 after two years at LaneCommunity College in Eugene, Ore., where he earned first-team all-conference honors. Brown made an immediate impact at LCSC when he earned first-team NAIA All American and also was the Region I Player of the Year as a junior first baseman. During the 1200 season, Brown made the NAIA World Series All-Tournament Team and was named the MVP of the Hawaii Easter Rainbow Tournament. He led the Warriors in hitting (.434), home runs (11) and RBI (75).

The following season Brown moved to catcher and also was the team’s designated hitter, and he hit .333 with 15 doubles, 11 home runs and 60 RBI. He also threw out 8 of 36 baserunners attempting to steal a base.

Following his senior year, Brown was drafted in the 17th round with the 510th overall by San Diego. He spent one season with the Padres’ organization, two in the independent leagues, and another year with the Oakland A’s organization.

Trevor then spent three years (2006-08) with the OklahomaStateUniversity baseball program. He served as assistant director of baseball operations for a year, and then was a graduate manager in 2007. Last season, he served as a volunteer assistant coach.