Paul Steffensen

Kenai’s Paul Steffensen finished his college baseball career in style, hitting an opposite-field home run in his final at-bat.

The St. Cloud State University senior went yard in the ninth inning of a 4-3 loss to Minot State in an elimination game of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament in Brandon, South Dakota.

Steffensen finished the game 1-for-4 to give him 251 career hits, the most for a college player from Alaska.

This was his sixth homer of the year, giving him 14 in two seasons at St. Cloud State. He also hit one at Tennessee Tech and a half dozen more at Mesa Community College.

His 21 career home runs are the second most all-time among Alaskans, trailing only the 23 belted by Juneau’s Rob Conway from 1998 to 2001 at Iowa State and Mendocino Community College.

Steffensen hit .288 with 44 RBIs in 50 games this season.

He was also 16-for-17 on stolen bases, getting thrown on his final attempt, snapping a string of 37 consecutive stolen bags dating back to the 2019 season.

Speaking of streaks, his baseball resume includes a state-record 26-game hitting streak during his freshman season in 2018.

A senior majoring in psychology and holding a 4.0 GPA, he won the NSIC Elite 18 award in baseball for having the highest cumulative grade-point average participating.

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