MASON CITY – The NIACC baseball team recently signed eight players to national letters of intent for the 2013-14 season.
Signing for first-year coach Travis Hergert were catcher Zachary Fricke (Waterloo West), infielder Chad Christensen (Atlantic), infielder/outfielder Daniel Pellinen (North Woods. Wis.), outfielder Daniel Bradley (Aukland, New Zealand), and right-handed pitchers Jacob Gleason (Pella), Sawyer Doocy (North Union), Quinn Ahern (Joliet West, Ill.) and Shane Barker (Windsor, Ontario, Canada).
Fricke hit .496 with 6 home runs, 14 doubles and 36 RBIs in 2012 and was a first-team Class 4A all-stater by the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association.
Christensen hit .304 with four doubles and 12 RBIs. Pellinen hit .413 with six doubles and 13 RBIs.
As for the pitchers, Gleason, a third-team all-state pick by the Iowa Newspaper Association, was 7-4 with a 2.43 earned run average. Gleason, who had 133 strikeouts in 11 starts, is ranked 323 out of the top 1,000 right-handed pitchers according to Perfect Game.
Doocy was 7-3 with a 2.73 ERA with 113 strikeouts in 10 starts and 15 appearances. Ahern was 3-1 with a 1.38 ERA a year ago and Barker was 2-1 with a save and a 3.46 ERA last summer for the Tecumseh Thunder.
Also joining the NIACC baseball program as walk-ons will be first baseman Tom Schreiber (West Branch), infielder/right-handed pitcher Trent Vondrasek and right-handed pitcher Sean Powers (Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln).
NIACC (37-21 in 2012) opens the 2013 season March 2-3 at Alton, Ill.
