GLENDIVE, Mont. – The NIACC baseball team is three wins away from reaching the NJCAA Division II World Series for the first time in school history.
NIACC (26-16), Miles Community College (31-11) and Dakota County Technical and Community College (18-18) play in the double-elimination tournament Saturday and Sunday with the winner heading to Enid, Okla. May 25-June 1 for the national championships.
“We had a little chat (Friday) with the team,” NIACC coach Travis Hergert said. “It’s time to get back to business.
“This is a business trip. The World Series is on the line. It’s time to get to work.”
NIACC plays Miles CC at 10 a.m. (Montana time) Saturday and DCTC at 1 p.m. (Montana time) in the opening round Saturday.
Miles CC and DCTC play at 4 p.m. Saturday.
The tournament has a double-elimination format. Saturday consists of round-robin play. If one team goes 2-0 Saturday, they will play the 1-1 team at noon on Sunday in one and possibly two games.
If all teams go 1-1, then NIACC plays Dakota County at noon Sunday and Miles plays the winner at 3 p.m.
The tournament will be played at Dawson Community College.
NIACC advanced to the district tournament with a 8-6 win over Iowa Central in the Region XI championship.
Miles CC won the Region IX title with a 7-4 10-inning victory over Southeast Community College (Nebraska). Dakota County won the Region XIII title with a 9-0 victory over Williston State (North Dakota).
Hergert said sophomore right-hander Tim Black will start Saturday’s opener against Miles CC.
Black (4-3 with one save) last pitched Tuesday when he got the last five outs in NIACC’s dramatic come-from-behind win over rival Iowa Central.
Black recorded two strikeouts in the win over Iowa Central to become NIACC’s strikeout king with 105 career strikeouts. Heading into his relief appearance, Black was tied with Tom Heithoff (2006-07) with 103 career strikeouts.
He also pitched eight innings of shutout baseball in a 6-0 victory over Iowa Central in the third round of the regional tournament.
“That was a phenomenal start against Iowa Central,” Hergert said. “He completely shut them down.
“And on a day of rest, there was nobody else I’d want in the situation to close out a championship other than Tim Black.”
Hergert said freshman right-hander Nick Veale will probably start game two on Saturday. Hergert said it’s possible that sophomore right-hander Lucas Bakker could start Saturday but he’d prefer to hold Bakker out until Sunday.
Miles CC is led at the plate by Taylor Carson, who is hitting .309 with 23 RBIs.
Also for Miles, Tucker Young is hitting .304. Spencer Hartick has a team-high 25 RBIs and Brad Rook has a team-high six doubles.
On the mound for the Pioneers, Jake Mills is 6-0 with a 3.03 earned run average in 59 1/3 innings pitched. Mills has 48 strikeouts and 13 walks. Trevor Johnson is 6-2 with a 3.96 ERA in 50 innings pitched with 48 strikeouts and 17 walks.
For DCTC, Chase Coon is hitting .318 and Tom Potter is hitting .307.
Potter and Zach Garner lead DCTC with 13 RBIs each. Kyle Kalina leads the way with five doubles and Garner has four triples.
On the mound for DCTC, Brad Williams is 3-0 with a 0.64 ERA with 39 strikeouts and 11 walks in 28 innings pitched. Lucas Long is 2-3 with a 2.23 ERA with 37 strikeouts and seven walks in 32 1/3 innings pitched.
“We just have to play good baseball,” Hergert said. “We have to take care of the baseball, get good starting pitching and execute offensively.
“We need to keep that focus and energy. This is a blast.”
COMMON OPPONENTS
DCTC was 0-5 against DMACC this season and 0-2 against Kirkwood. DMACC topped DCTC 9-0, 5-3, 6-5, 10-5 and 5-4. Kirkwood topped DCTC 2-1 and 7-2.
NIACC was 4-1 against Kirkwood and 1-3 against DMACC. NIACC dropped a 14-4 decision to Kirkwood and topped the Eagles 8-2, 1-0, 6-1 and 2-1. DMACC topped NIACC 9-0, 3-0, 4-2 and NIACC beat the Bears 9-6.
ON NIACC
Leaders at the plate: Average: Brett Guba .405, Drew Ver-stegen .359, Max Waletich .352; Hits: Verstegen 46, Waletich 45; 2B – Hunter King 15; 3B – Brett Guba 2, Reynaldo Sala 2; HR – Verstegen 3, Brett White 3; RBIs – King 33; SB – Ryan Voves 9, Tanner Unkel 9; Runs – Verstegen 34.
Leaders on the mound: Wins – Lucas Bakker 8-1; Strikeouts – Bakker 57; ERA – Tim Black 2.50, Joey Reed 2.58; Saves – Jeremy Cronk 5; Innings pitched – Bakker 63 2/3; Complete games – Bakker 6.
