PIERRE – Tyler Traphagen has always loved baseball. 

This summer, baseball is loving him back.

Traphagen, an Aberdeen native and a graduate of Roncalli High School, has spent the summer playing with the Pierre Trappers of the Expedition League.

“I’m having so much fun,” Traphagen said. “The season is going really well. It’s probably one of the best summers I’ve had playing ball.”

Traphagen is no stranger to the Expedition League, having played briefly with the now defunct Aberdeen Hotshots. After finishing up this past season with Ridgewater College in Willmar, Minn., Traphagen poked around for summer ball opportunities, eventually landing a tryout with the Sioux Falls Canaries. The Trappers called him the same day and signed him to the squad.

“It’s been going good,” Traphagen said. “I’ve been having a lot of fun. Everything has been going really well. People here in Pierre love the team. It’s just been a fun year. I just go out there and don’t even think.”

Baseball has always sort of been that for Traphagen, even when he didn’t receive any collegiate scholarships to play after graduating from the Aberdeen Smittys American Legion squad. So, he walked on at Ridgewater, then returned to the team after a year away. 

“Once you get that one opportunity, you’ve got to take it,” he said.

That opportunity has opened up others for the speedy outfielder, allowing him to travel and meet other players from different backgrounds and different parts of the baseball world.

Traphagen and his Ridgewater teammates put together a successful season, nearly advancing to the junior college playoffs.

“We were one game away from the World Series,” Traphagen said. “That did hurt a little.”

Now, Traphagen is trying to parlay his experience into sage words of wisdom for others.

“Guys are coming up to me asking what my experience was,” he said. “It used to be me asking questions, and now they’re asking me. The main thing is, just keep playing.”

Traphagen and the Trappers – fans have good naturedly connected the names, he said – will wrap up the season with a best-of-five series against the Souris Valley Sabre Dogs. All five games will be played at Pierre’s Hyde Stadium.

The championship series cuts the league’s season short by roughly a month. Seven former members of the league bowed out last fall and formed the Independence League. The Expedition League itself will fold at the conclusion of the championship series.