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Florida trip to follow four games this weekend in Dakota
With feet of snow still blanketing Veterans Memorial Field and Ely emerging from nearly a month’s worth of subzero temperatures, baseball is clearly not yet front and center in town.
Except for the Vermilion Ironhawks.
Since mid-January, the community college baseball team has been practicing indoors, and the 2025 season is set to begin this weekend. The Ironhawks went to Mitchell, S.D. for back-toback doubleheaders with Dakota College-Bottineau (N.D.) and Minnesota West, and the four-game set is just a warmup for the team’s annual trek south to sunny Florida.
Vermilion opens a ninegame junket Wednesday with games at Auburndale, against both Schoolcraft (Mich.) and Owens (Ohio).
The games begin a rebuilding season of sorts for Vermilion, which went 2023 a year ago but has since turned over much of its roster because of graduation.
Outfielder Nick Berglund and catcher Aidan Brandenburg are the only sophomores who figure to be fixtures in the Vermilion lineup, and the pitching staff includes three returnees - sophomores Jerron Turney, Xavier Ibarra and Jake Thome.
The Vermilion roster includes 27 players, with a whopping 19 freshmen.
“In many respects, it’s almost a brand-new team,” said Tom Coombe, who starts his eighth season with the Vermilion program. “Every time we hit the field, we are going to be relying on many freshmen to contribute. We’ve got a good group of first-year players but they have yet to prove themselves in a college setting. The season will be a work in progress.”
During the fall, Vermilion picked up victories against division rivals Hibbing, Mesabi and Rainy River and even knocked off Century - last year’s regional runner-up.
That provides some optimism for the Ironhawks, and the team figures to have more depth than in recent years particularly on the mound.
Turney, a second-year hurler from Haxtun, CO, came on strong in a relief role late in the 2024 season and he is likely to anchor the Vermilion rotation this spring.
The 6-5 Thome (Bruce, WI) is a hard-throwing reliever while Ibarra, who hails from San Antonio, TX, is likely to log plenty of innings.
Redshirt freshman Dylan Schroeder (Hortonville, WI) is coming back from an arm injury, while the staff is plentiful - with Vermilion looking for contributions on the mound from CJ Styron (Milton, WA), Andrew Ritter (South St. Paul), TJ Frein (Bloomington), Colbie Parker (Inver Grove Heights), Andrew Melgeorge (Superior), Dylan Spears (San Antonio, TX), Griffin Stiel (Hinckley), Elliot Levens (Tower), Jo Jo Taverna (Bloomington) and Berglund (Becker).
Berglund hit over .300 as a freshman and stole over 20 bases, and he’s expected to provide a spark at the top of the Vermilion lineup.
“We lost a lot of run producers and a lot of power, but Nick is the kind of guy who can take over a game with his speed,” said Coombe. “We need him on the basepaths.” Brandenburg, who is from Winter Garden, FL, played as a reserve in 2024 and will step up to provide steady defense behind the plate.
One of the top new hitters for the Ironhawks is Martin Cubillan, a catcher and infielder who earned all-conference and all-section honors while playing for Two Rivers in suburban St. Paul.
Dylan Coello (Pembroke Pines, FL) and Dylan Ploen (Centennial) are part of a crowded mix of middle infielders while both Frein and Eli Hazuga (Stanley-Boyd, WI) are contending for time at first base.
Other infielders include Charlie Mohr (Forest Lake), Diego Ordonez (Lake Jackson, TX), Parker, Ritter, Taverna and Spears.
Berglund is part of a deep group of outfielders that could be aided by the bat of Cole Smith, who is from Missoula, Mont., along with Stiel, Travis Anderson (Big Lake), Frein, Parker, Ty Ellsworth (North Branch) and Jake Lehman (Madelia).
Vermilion, which competes at the NJCAA Division III level, has a rugged schedule in Florida with a mix of games against Division III and Division II junior college opposition.
The Ironhawks will play their games in the RussMatt Classic in the Orlando area, with contests at ballparks at Auburndale, Davenport and Sanford.
Vermilion isn’t scheduled to play a home game in Ely until mid-April, but could begin action in northeastern Minnesota as soon as mid-March on the field at Aurora, which has artificial turf.
Coombe is aided by assistants Mike Turnbull and Mike Pope.
