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Ironhawks ride hot streak as Northern Division play begins
The Vermilion Ironhawks found both sunny skies and their offense last weekend in La Crosse, Wisc.
A 32-run outburst in Saturday’s doubleheader capped off a weekend that included three wins in four games for the college baseball team and five home runs.
The round-trippers all came in Saturday’s 19-5, 13-8 sweep of Western Tech, and the Ironhawks rebounded from a 6-3 opening game loss the day before and salvaged a split with a 6-4 victory.
Overall, Vermilion had 13 extra-base hits for the series and raised its team batting average to .310 while improving to 8-9 for the spring.
Vermilion also swept the Minnesota College Athletic Conference awards, with Parker Coach named MCAC North Division Pitcher of the Week and Nick Berglund named MCAC North Division Player of the Week.
The hot streak comes at the right time, with Northern Division play starting with a four-game series with Northland, at Thief River Falls, Saturday and Sunday.
Vermilion is picked to finish second in the division in a preseason coaches poll, and the series kicks off a 20game division slate that will determine if the Ironhawks reach the postseason for the third time in four years.
“Every series, every division game, is critical,” said head coach Tom Coombe. “We just need to take it game-by-game, series-by-series and win enough to get us to where we can move on in May. The division will be a dogfight.”
The sizzling bats figure to help during a series that will stretch each team’s pitching depth.
Vermilion broke out in Saturday’s first game, scoring 10 runs in the first two innings and never looking back.
Berglund, who hails from Becker and has Ely family ties, played a major role all weekend long at the top of the Vermilion lineup.
He had seven hits and scored seven times while stealing four bases and putting pressure on the Cavalier defense.
Two VCC sophomores, Jake Casazza and Marcus Haire, fueled the explosion in Saturday’s first game.
Casazza, who hails from Homasassa, Fla., went threefor- three with six runs batted in including a pair of doubles.
Haire, who came to Vermilion from San Antonio, Tex., had a four-for-four day with five runs batted in.
Sophomores DeSoto Hood (Liberty County, Fla.) and Chase Snyder (Ellsworth, Wisc.) both added two-run homers, while Eau Claire freshman Will Thibodeau, who broke out of a slump with a mammoth three-run homer.
Snyder, frehsman infielder Chris Arambula (Wray, Col.) and Berglund combined to score 10 runs for Vermilion, while Reno freshman Landon Wilkins picked up the pitching win, working four frames and scattering five hits. Jerron Turney, a freshman from Haxtun, Col. fired a scoreless fifth inning.
In the second game, Vermilion erased an 8-0 deficit, scored 13 unanswered runs and picked up the series win.
Coach played a major role, keeping the Cavaliers in check with a stellar relief outing.
Coach, who is from Fall Creek, Wis., didn’t allow a run in five-and-one-third innings of work and gave up only a seventh inning single. He finished with six strikeouts on the way to his first collegiate win.
“Pa rker completely changed the complexion of the game,” said Coombe. “We’ve seen flashes of what he can do on the mound but he put it all together and put us in position to come back.”
Vermilion closed the gap with a seven-run third inning, as freshman catcher Aidan Brandenburg (Winter Garden, Fla.) capped off the rally with his first home run - a two-run blast.
Berglund reached base and tied it in the fourth, while Thibodeau’s fifth-inning single plated Hood with the go-ahead run.
A four-run seventh sealed matters, with Thibodeau lining another run-scoring hit and sophomore Mason Kostka (Eau Claire, Wisc.) coming off the bench to seal matters with a three-run homer.
Haire got his third win of the season in the second game of the March 29 twinbill. He went five innings, allowed five hits and didn’t give up an earned run.
Freshsman Jake Thome (Bruce, Wisc.) fired a scorless sixth and sophomore Kelbee Woodham (Bonifay, Fla.) earned the save in the seventh.
Kostka’s two-run double ignited a three-run first inning for the winners. and Berglund finished with two hits in the game.
Vermilion failed to hold a 3-0 lead in the opening game and five Ironhawks errors proved to be costly.
Xavier Ibarra, a freshman pitcher from San Antonio, went three innings and suffered the tough-luck loss in relief of Arambula.
Berglund had two hits and a run batted in during the game.
