A look back at NIACC's 2013 'magical' run to Juco World Series
By KIRK HARDCASTLE
NIACC sports information director
They called themselves "the Renegades."
The NIACC baseball team aka "the Renegades" made history 10 years ago in 2013 by becoming the first team in school history to qualify for the junior college World Series in Enid, Okla.
The Renegades were a group of players made up of people from all over the world.
The Renegades had a flashy shortstop (Reynaldo Sala) from the Dominican Republic and several home-grown players from right here in River City (Jake Adams, Hunter King and Drew Verstegen from Newman Catholic and AJ Hrubetz, Robert Swenson and Ryan Voves from Mason City High School).
The Renegades had a pitcher from Canada in Tim Black and three Australians in pitchers Lucas Bakker and Nick Veale and Alex Stuart.
They also had a pair of infielders from Minnesota (Brett Guba and Max Waletich).
"It was a team with very strong personalities and dynamics that seemed to mesh somehow and it just worked," King said. "By no means were we perfect, but we were all there to win and have each other's backs. We worked at it. We had pride in being gritty and fighting."
NIACC fought its way through a regular season where it was 13-11 in the ICCAC and earned the four-seed for the NJCAA Region 11 tournament.
And that is where the Trojans got hot and stayed on fire for the entire month of May.
"I remember the road trips and the time around the regional tournament because classes were done for the semester and it was all about baseball," Verstegen, the team's center fielder, said. "I remember us all wanting to be the first team at NIACC that made it to the (NJCAA Division II) World Series.
"Coach Hergert let us have fun and enjoy playing the game our way."
NIACC ENTERED THE REGIONAL TOURNAMENT in Waterloo losing nine of its final 15 games – not exactly the way a coach wants to enter post-season play.
Hergert said he called Waletich, a sophomore first baseman from Fairmont, Minn., who the first-year coach called the team's "voice of reason", the day before the team's first-round regional tournament contest against Kirkwood.
"I was really worried about the mental state of our team," the coach said. "I remember calling Max and telling him to be up front and honest with me so I asked him 'where are we at?'
"He told me that if we win the first game we are going to win it all. And then he said 'if we lose the first one, we're probably two and barbeque.'"
Well, Waletich nailed it
Behind a complete-game from Bakker, NIACC edged Kirkwood 2-1 in the regional tournament opener and three wins later claimed the school's first-ever regional baseball title.
The Trojans topped Southwestern 14-6 in the second round and blanked Iowa Central 6-0 in next round to move to the championship.
Iowa Central knocked off NIACC 7-5 in the first title game setting up a winner-take-all contest for the regional championship.
NIACC, which trailed 6-2 heading to the bottom of the seventh inning, used a five-run seventh inning to claim the regional title with a 8-6 win.
Hrubetz gained the win in relief and Black threw the last 1 2/3 innings to gain the save and the celebration was on at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo.
"It was such a tough conference," Hergert said. "Kirkwood was really good. DMACC was dominant that year.
"Southeastern was always good. Iowa Central, we had to fight and claw with (the Tritons). Just like any Rick Pederson team does, they took us to the very end in that winner take all title game. They had us on the ropes and that was a typical Rick team. They are going to play to the very last out. We earned that title."
NEXT UP WAS A TRIP OUT WEST to Glendive, Mont. for the NJCAA North Plains District Tournament.
Black tossed a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts and Waletich hit a two-run home run in the first inning as the Trojans topped Miles CC 3-1 in the tournament opener.
NIACC then topped DCTC 10-2 and 4-1 to claim the district crown and move to its first-ever NJCAA Division II World Series.
In the 4-1 tournament clincher, Bakker tossed a three-hitter with 10 strikeouts.
The Trojans relied heavily on their co-aces in right-handers Black and Bakker the entire 2013 season.
"They were two different styles of pitchers and personalities," Hergert said. "Lucas was very intense, focused on how he went about his business.
"Tim was a little more laid back but he could turn the switch on. When he got on the mound, he turned into an animal. He was kind of an angry Canadian. They had unique stuff.
NEXT STOP: ENID, OKLA.
"I remember (assistant) coach (Derek) Drage telling us 'you guys might just be dumb enough to win this whole thing,'" Voves recalled, "when reflecting on how much talent we had yet how loosely we played."
The Trojans definitely gave it their best shot at the David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Okla.
They played and won two of the most memorable games in school history to start the World Series – a 2-0 win over Madison College in the opener and a 7-6, 10-inning win over Murray State College in the second round.
The 2-0 win over Madison College is simply known as the "Tim Black game."
Black struck out a NJCAA Division II World Series record 16 and tossed a complete-game, 2-hitter. He took a perfect game into the eighth inning and escaped a bases loaded jam in the eighth inning with an impressive double play by middle infielders Sala and King.
"All I remember is throwing the worst pregame bullpen, I think I've ever thrown," Black said. "It was a little nerve racking, but once I hit the mound and got through the first couple of innings, I was and on and couldn't be touched.
"I felt great and everything was working. The defense played phenomenal and everything came into fruition after that."
Other than the critical double play turned by Sala and King, the NIACC defense, other than the catcher Swenson, didn't have to do a whole lot.
"I had sprained my ankle in the district tournament the week before so I was hoping nothing was coming my way that night," the second baseman King said. "By the fifth/sixth inning, I began to realize nothing was being put in play and Timmy was absolutely shoving it down their throats. He just filled it up that night – total control with his pitches."
Verstegen, the Trojans' center fielder, agreed with his former high school teammate King.
"As an outfielder, you want the ball hit out to you so you can make plays," he said, "but that game, I just remember watching him pound the strike zone and continue to get guys out himself.
"Our pitching staff was so good all year, it wasn't that unusual to have games when we didn't get a lot of balls hit out to us. But this one was different. Tim was on another level that night."
Hergert, who was NIACC's pitching coach under Todd Rima before taking over as the head coach in 2013, gave a lot of credit to Swenson behind the plate for Black's gem.
"Not taking anything away from Tim, but that might have been the biggest strike zone I've ever seen," Hergert said. "We took advantage of it.
"Swenson called a tremendous game. Later in the year, we gave Robert freedom to call games and talk through sequencing and situations and he was really, really good at that. A lot of credit goes to Robert, as well. Tim had it. I remember this vividly. I think it was the sixth or seventh inning, I looked down and thought he had eight or nine strikeouts and I see that he had 13 – oh man, that's a lot."
AFTER A DAY OFF AFTER THE SHUT OUT OF MADISON, King provided the heroics in the extra-inning win over Murray State College – hitting a walk-off home run leading off the 11th inning.
"I remember telling Drew Verstegen, who was warming up on deck with me, that I was going to try and end it on the first strike that I saw," King said. "I got up on the plate, took the first fastball strike on the outer third and yanked it."
King definitely did and launched it over the left-field fence and then sprinted around the bases where his teammates were there waiting for him.
Voves, who grew up playing with and against King in Mason City, said King stepped into the right-handed batter's box with his usual confidence.
"He stepped into the box with his typical moxy," Voves said, "and annihilated one to deep left.
"You could tell by the crack of the bat that he got all of it. The dugout went nuts and we had a walk-off party at home plate."
NIACC eventually bowed out of the 2013 national tournament with a pair of losses to Heartland College (7-3) and Murray State College (8-3) and placed fifth in its initial appearance in Enid, Okla.
"The run itself was a magical run," Hergert said. "Did we expect to do that? I'd say yes and no.
"We had a lot of second-year guys that had talent with the pitching and we had some really, really good baseball players. We had pitchers that could fill up the strike zone and keep the game in check. Honestly, it didn't go very well throughout the season. We fought a lot of weather issues, inconsistent play and were sort of limping into the post-season.
"Limp in and see what we got. I knew if we could line up our pitching we had a pretty good shot."
SO HERE WE ARE 10 YEARS LATER and the history-making Trojans still have very fond memories of that magical run from Mason City to Waterloo to Montana to Oklahoma.
"You don't really know it at the time because you are young and it's your first college team," Waletich said, "but there certainly was something special about that team.
"You also have to give Hergs and (assistant coach) Pete (Lauritson) a ton of credit. I truly believe if it was anyone besides those two, we don't get nearly as far as we did … Ten years later and still have some of the best memories from that year."
Hergert, who also led the Trojans to the NJCAA Division II World Series in 2015 and 2016, said his 2013 group will always be remembered.
Hergert said the 2013 Trojans set the tone for his entire professional coaching career.
"I'm sitting here in professional baseball now," Hergert said, "but without that group, the coaches that helped, I wouldn't be where I'm at right now. There's no way."
Hergert said he's forever indebted to a lot of people from 2013
"I owe so much to that team and those coaches," Hergert said of Lauritson, Drage and then student assistant coach Shawn Schlechter, "and (former athletic director) Dan Mason.
"That was my first year as head coach. Todd (Rima) had left and Dan didn't go out (looking for another coach). He didn't hesitate and he trusted me enough to take over the program. I owe so much to Dan and (former NIACC president) Dr. (Debra) Derr. They believed in me to lead the program and I'm so thankful for that."
So Travis, after 10 years, what do you remember about your first team you led as a head coach?
"They called themselves the Renegades and that was their thing," he said. Hergert. "That was their mantra. That's what they were.
"It was a whole roster of different personalities from different walks of life, different parts of the world. They were a lot of fun to be around and a really, really special group."
2013 NIACC TROJANS ROSTER
Jake Adams, Lucas Bakker, Rob Beasterfield, Tim Black, Spencer Bonner, Jeremy Cronk, Brett Guba, Joe Hallock, AJ Hrubetz, Hunter King, David Lund, Ean McNeal, Zeb Noel, Corey O'Connor, Aaron Peller, Joey Reed, Reynaldo Sala, Alex Stuart, Robert Swenson, Tanner Unkel, Nick Veale, Drew Verstegen, Ryan Voves, Bayden Waldock, Max Waletich, Brett White, Isaac Willenbring, Spencer Wright, Kellen Yoder.
Head coach: Travis Hergert. Assistant coaches: Pete Lauritson, Derek Drage. Student assistant coach: Shawn Schlechter.
NIACC's 2013 post-season run
NJCAA Region XI tournament
(Riverfront Stadium, Waterloo, Iowa)
NIACC 2, Kirkwood 1 (5-10-13)
Kirkwood 001 000 000 - 1 7 0
NIACC 000 200 00x - 2 4 1
Cale Henke (4K, 2BB) and Dairo Gonzalez. Lucas Bakker (5K, 1BB) and Robert Swenson. W - Bakker; L - Henke. 2B - Ozzie Adams (K). Multiple hits - Nick Jones (K).
NIACC 14, Southwestern 6 (7) (5-11-13)
Southwestern 101 013 0 - 6 9 2
NIACC 301 022 6 - 14 11 4
Alex Lawson (1K, 5BB), Corey Williams (5) (0K, 3BB), Chris McVey (7) (0K, 2BB) and Omar Hotusing. Joey Reed (1K, 1BB), Nick Veale (5) (1K, 1BB), Jeremy Cronk (7) (1K, 0BB) and Robert Swenson.
W - Veale; L - Williams; S - Cronk. 2B - Alessio Pena (SW), Seth Leiser (SW), Alex Stuart (N), Hunter King (N). Multiple hits - Lieser 3, Hotusing 2, Michael Cendrowski (SW) 2, Swenson 2, Drew Verstegen (N) 2, Max Waletich (N) 2. Multiple RBIs - Lieser 2, Dillon Coates (SW) 3, Stuart 2, King 5, Tanner Unkel (N) 3.
NIACC 6, Iowa Central 0 (5-12-13)
NIACC 000 130 200 0 - 6 8 0
Iowa Central 000 000 000 - 0 2 1
Tim Black (9K, 2BB), Jeremy Cronk (9) (0K, 1BB) and Robert Swenson. Will Kenny (5K, 2BB), Vinny Crivaro (5K) (4K, 0BB) and Matthew Molbury.
W - Black; L - Kenny. 2B - Alex Stuart (N), Hunter King (N). 3B - Reynaldo Sala (N). Multiple hits - Brett Guba (N) 2, Max Waletich (N) 2. Multiple RBIs - Waletich 2, King 2.
Iowa Central 7, NIACC 5 (5-13-13)
NIACC 500 000 011 - 7 10 3
Iowa Central 001 210 100 - 5 9 2
Nick Veale (1K, 3BB), Ean McNeal (2) (1K, 1BB), Jeremy Cronk (8) (2K, 1BB) and Robert Swenson. Nolan Webster (6K, 4BB), Quinn Johnson (6) (2K, 3BB) and Matthew Molbury.
W - Johnson; L - McNeal. 2B - Dalton Parrott (IC), Brett Guba (N). Multiple hits - Parrott 2, Tyler Peyton (IC) 2, Dan Potempa (IC) 2, Guba 3, Alex Stuart (N) 2, Hunter King (N) 2. Multiple RBIs - Spencer Mallonee (IC) 2, Guba 2.
NIACC 8, Iowa Central 6 (5-14-13)
Iowa Central 000 023 100 - 6 14 1
NIACC 001 100 51x - 8 13 1
Brandon Shulista (2K, 2BB), Alex Hayden (3) (1K, 0BB), Vinny Crivaro (7) (0K, 1BB), Nate Steger (7) (0K, 0BB), Will Kenny (8) (0K, 1BB) and Matthew Molbury. Lucas Bakker (4K, 1BB), Jeremy Cronk (6) (0K, 1BB), AJ Hrubetz (6) (2K, 0BB), Tim Black (8) (2K, 1BB) and Robert Swenson.
W - Hrubetz; L - Crivaro; S - Black. 2B - Tyler Peyton (IC), Molbury, Justin Threlkeld (IC), Swenson, Hunter King (N). Mulitple hits - Threlkeld 4, Dawson Porter (IC) 4, Andy DeJesus (IC) 2, Brett Guba (N) 3, Alex Stuart (N) 2, Drew Verstegen (N) 2, King 2. Multiple RBIs - Christian Abilla (IC) 2, Stuart 2, Max Waletich 2, Ryan Voves (N) 2.
NJCAA North Plains District
(Glendive, Mont.)
NIACC 4, Miles CC 1 (5-18-13)
NIACC 300 000 000 - 3 9 3
Miles CC 000 001 000 - 1
Tim Black (11K, 1BB) and Robert Swenson. W - Black.
2B - Brett Guba (N), Ryan Voves (N). HR - Max Waletich (N). Multiple hits - Guba 2, Drew Verstegen (N) 2, Voves 2. Multiple RBIs - Waletich 2.
NIACC 10, DCTC 2 (7) (5-18-13)
DCTC 002 000 0 - 2
NIACC 302 010 4 - 10 10 0
Nick Veale (3K, 5BB), Isaac Willenbring (7) (0K, 0BB) and Robert Swenson. W - Veale.
2B - Brett Guba (N), Alex Stuart (N) 2, Max Waletich (N), Reynaldo Sala (N). Multiple hits - Guba 2, Stuart 2, Ryan Voves (N) 2. Multiple RBIs - Waletich 2, Sala 2, Voves 3.
NIACC 4, DCTC 1 (5-19-18)
DCTC 100 000 000 - 1
NIACC 001 000 03x - 4 5 3
Lucas Bakker (10K, 1BB) and Robert Swenson. W - Bakker.
Multiple hits - Max Waletich (N) 2. Multiple RBIs - Tanner Unkel (N) 2.
NJCAA Division II World Series
(At Enid, Okla., David Allen Memorial Ballpark)
NIACC 2, Madison College 0 (5-25-13)
NIACC 011 000 000 - 2 5 0
Madison 000 000 000 - 0 2 2
Tim Black (16K, 1BB) and Robert Swenson. Nathan Hoffman (8K, 2BB), Calen Rohrman (9) (3K, 0BB) and Danny Krause. W - Black (6-3); L - Hoffman (8-1).
Multiple hits - Drew Verstegen (N) 2. Multiple RBIs - Hunter King (N) 2. SB - Max Waletich (N), Reynaldo Sala (N). T - 1:45.
NIACC 7, Murray State College 6 (11 innings) (5-27-13)
Murray State 002 100 012 00 - 6 6 2
NIACC 010 020 201 01 - 7 11 5
Bradly Horn (2K, 2BB), John Hayes (7) (0K, 1BB), Michael Barnhart (7) (0K, 3BB), John Watson (8) (0K, 0BB), Eddie Broll (9) (0K, 3BB), Joey Muehr (11) (0K, 0BB) and (catcher not available). Lucas Bakker (7K, 2BB), Ean McNeal (9) (0K, 0BB) and Robert Swenson. W - McNeal (3-1); L - Muehr.
2B - Noel Nevarez (MS), Keach Ballard (MS), Daniel Arthur (MS), Swenson. HR - Hunter King (N). Multiple hits - King 3, Swenson 2, Drew Verstegen (N) 2, Ryan Voves (N) 2. Multiple RBIs - Ballard 2, King 4. SB - Verstegen, Voves.
Heartland CC 7, NIACC 3 (5-28-13)
NIACC 000 120 000 - 3 4 4
Heartland 100 005 100 - 7 12 0
Nick Veale (7K, 2BB), Jeremy Cronk (6) (0K, 0BB), Isaac Willenbring (7) (1K, 1BB), AJ Hrubetz (8) (0K, 0BB) and Robert Swenson. Johnny Lieske (8K, 1BB), John Spoelstra (7) (5K, 1BB) and Joe Gregory. W - Lieske (9-2); S - Spoelstra (3); L - Veale (7-2).
2B - Cody Dykema (H), Mason Snyder (H), Jared Hendren (H). Multiple hits - Dykema 3, Drew Clark (H) 3, Snyder 2, Hendren 2. Multiple RBIs - Snyder 2. SB - Drew Verstegen (N), Andrew Sopena (H), Hendren.
Murray State College 8, NIACC 3 (5-29-13)
Murray State 010 400 210 - 8 8 0
NIACC 000 000 210 - 3 9 0
Jared Sterling (1K, 3BB), John Hayes (9) (1K, 1BB) and (catcher not available). Joey Reed (2K, 4BB), Ean McNeal (4) (0K, 0BB), AJ Hrubetz (6) (1K, 1BB), Isaac Willenbring (8) (1K, 1BB), Spencer Wright (9) (1K, 0BB) and Robert Swenson. W - Sterling; L - Reed (3-6).
2B - Noel Nevarez (MS), Daniel Arthur (MS), Brett Guba (N), Tanner Unkel (N). Multiple hits - Sterling 2, Nevarez 2, Keach Ballard (MS) 2, Guba (N) 2, Drew Verstegen (N) 2, Ryan Voves (N) 2. Multiple RBIs - Arthur 3, Unkel (N) 2. SB - Verstegen, Voves.