SPRINGFIELD — Area baseball fans are remembering Springfield’s Paul Burghardt, who died last week at the age of 60.

Burghardt was one of the best pitchers in the area in the early to late 80s and was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 15th round of the 1985 MLB June Amateur Draft.

One of the players who recalled the left-handed Burghardt was Jay Krzmarzick.

“He was a very dominant pitcher in high school from his freshman year on up,” Krzmarzick said. “I would not be surprised if he won 30 games as a high school pitcher — he had great mechanics — the best that I have seen for a left-hander. His control was tremendous.

“He threw hard and had a nice quick slider and his control was always so good that he never got himself in trouble. He was always a super hitter too.”

Krzmarzick remembered that in 1986, the Sleepy Eye Indians were runners-up in the state tournament to Jordan.

“We had drafted Paul that year and in one of the games in St. Cloud he pitched nine innings and also hit two home runs,” Krzmarzick said. “Back then drafted players could also hit.”

Burghardt played college baseball at Normandale Community College, Clarinda Community College and Ball State University.

“He was a humble person,” Krzmarzick said. “He was quiet. When we drafted him he got along great and everybody liked him — he had a great sense of humor.”

Krzmarzick also recalled a state tournament game in Arlington when he got drafted by Leavenworth.

“Paul was on that team and Dale Helget (from Stark) got drafted too,” he said. “We had an 18 inning game in Arlington and we won either 2-1 or 3-2. I pitched the first eight inings and Paul pitched the last 10.”

Terry Helget from Essig recalled that game and said it was a game where Burghardt came straight from his job from the highway blacktopping crew to the park and pitched the final 10 innings.

“He was man,” Helget said.

Krzmarzick agreed that Burghardt was not only a great pitcher but a great person.

“He was fun to be around,” Krzmarzick said.