NIACC wins 40 games for 2nd straight season
MASON CITY — Troy Bullingham wondered if it was possible to duplicate what the NIACC baseball team accomplished roughly 12 months ago.
The dynamic, he thought, would be different for a team coming off a school record 49 wins, a regional championship and a trip to Enid, Oklahoma, for the junior college World Series.
It turns out things haven't been all that different.
"This sophomore class we have, we've won a lot of games," said Bullingham, the cleanup hitter who reached base in all seven plate appearances Saturday in a two-game sweep of Ellsworth (9-6 and 11-1) to cap the regular season. "At the start of the season, we were aiming for as many as we could. We are winners, that's for sure."
NIACC's sophomore class was part of the school's first 40-win season in 2015. That mark was reached again this year with Saturday's sweep in which NIACC (41-13) crossed the plate 20 times. In the four-game series, the No. 10 Trojans padded their regular-season stats, tallying 52 runs and swatting 14 homers.
Whatever expectations coach Travis Hergert had for these sophomores before they first played a game at NIACC have been surpassed.
"It's really remarkable," Hergert said. "That's 90 wins now as a group, and that's 40-plus wins and 20-plus conference wins each year. It's really impressive. They've done it because they've showed up to work each and every day to work their tails off.
"We thought they had what it took. It was a matter of them buying into the process and dealing with the ups and downs. They've surpassed every expectation."
Bullingham has been a key reason why. The even-keeled clean-up hitter is the school's all-time leader in RBIs, and Saturday, he walked three times, homered, doubled, singled and was hit by a pitch.
"He never gets too high, never gets too low," Hergert said. "He shows up with a workmanlike approach. He's been a joy to watch."
Austin LaDoux smacked a first-inning grand slam in Game 1, and Spencer Halloran and Bullingham added homers in support of Tony Grabowske, who lasted five innings and earned the win.
Malique Ziegler set the tone in the second game. The lead-off hitter homered on the first pitch he saw, added another solo blast in his second at-bat and also doubled to help Dusty Harrill to an easy victory on the mound.
Ziegler finished the regular season with 20 home runs, a single-season record he shares with teammate Robbie Glendinning.
NIACC will be the No. 2 seed in the Region XI tournament and will face seventh-seeded Southwestern on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Waterloo.
Southeastern and NIACC each finished 22-6 in ICCAC play, but Southeastern earned the No. 1 seed by virtue of taking 3 of 4 games from NIACC in the opening series of conference play.
By disposing of Ellsworth, NIACC finished 17-1 at home in the regular season. The goal now will be to play more games at Roosevelt Field.
The winner of the Region XI tournament will host district games with a spot in the World Series on the line.
"It comes down to execution," Hergert said. "The team that executes is the team that is going to win it."
NIACC 9, ELLSWORTH 6
Ellsworth 001 023 0 – 6 7 1
NIACC 402 021 x – 9 10 2
Jeremy Bentley (4K, 2BB), Steven Christopherson (4) (2K, 3BB) and David Janes. Tony Grabowske (5K, 2BB), Tyler Jacobsen (6) (0K, 0BB), Danny Beizer (7) (1K, 0BB) and Blake Whitecotton. HR – Evan Straw (El), Austin LaDoux (N), Spencer Halloran (N), Troy Bullingham (N). 2B – Bullingham. Multiple hits – Jase Grant (El), Halloran 3, Bullingham 2, Brandon Michie (N) 2. Multiple RBIs – Straw 3, LaDoux 4, Bullingham 2.
NIACC 11, ELLSWORTH 1 (5)
Ellsworth 010 00 – 1 3 1
NIACC 117 02 – 11 9 1
TJ Cardenas (2K, 2BB), Jose Tirado (3) (3K, 3BB) and David Janes. Dusty Harrill (2K, 2BB) and Austin LaDoux. HR – Malique Ziegler (N) 2, Janes (El). 2B – Austin LaDoux (N), Connor Enochs (N), Ziegler. Multiple hits – Ziegler 3. Multiple RBIs – Ziegler 3, Blake Whitecotton (N) 2.
