Sannes named NIACC baseball coach

MASON CITY – Drew Sannes has been selected as the eighth head coach in NIACC baseball history on Monday.

Sannes, who is 24, hopes to continue the strong tradition of NIACC baseball, which started in 1931. Sannes was the interim coach in the 2020 season, which was cut short due to COVID-19.

NIACC was 7-8 under Sannes in 2020 before the season ended.

"Obviously, I'm very excited to have the ability to transition out of the interim position and continue as the head baseball coach here at NIACC," Sannes said. "The rich tradition of high-quality coaches that have come before me here is humbling in and on its own.

"I want to give a special thanks to our athletic director, Dan Mason, for supporting not only myself, but our program as we move into a new era here. On top of that, our current assistant coaches Lincoln Hochmuth and Neal Kunik, have done a fantastic job thus far in acclimating our new players to our processes, while blending them with the veteran group that is still in place."

Sannes replaces Travis Hergert, who was the head coach of the Trojans from 2013-19 and accumulated a career record of 260-146-1.

NIACC athletic director Dan Mason is happy to add Sannes join his coaching staff.

"We have had a long and rich history of baseball here at the college," Mason said. "We are very excited to have Drew Sannes as our next head coach.

"The baseball program has fostered a culture of excellence, academically and athletically, for many years and has an alumni base that has gone on to do many tremendous things.

"We are fortunate to have had many excellent head and assistant coaches over the years, which have impacted young people in a positive manner."

Hergert left NIACC to become the assistant pitching coordinator with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Sannes played two years at the University of North Dakota and two years at Concordia-St. Paul.

Sannes, who will also be a student academic success coach at the college, graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from North Dakota I 2017 and received his Masters in Education from Concordia in 2019.

"Coach Sannes exemplifies the passion and commitment toward total student development that we value in our athletic program," Mason said.

Sannes, who has 51 players on the roster, has been coaching his team this fall under different that normal circumstances due to COVID-19. In past years, the Trojans have played a fall schedule against outside competition.

That is not the case for the Trojans in the fall of 2020.

"Things have been very positive through the first few weeks of training," Sannes said. "They've already battled through some adversity but have shown the resiliency to continue to push the envelope."

Sannes, who coached several Legion and VFW teams and worked with multiple academies in Minnesota before arriving at NIACC in the fall of 2019, said he's going forward with his same goals in mind.

"As for where we go from here, honestly nothing changes," he said. "At the end of the day, our job as coaches will continue to be educating players.

"This comes with a heavy focus on player/personal development to help them reach their dreams within baseball, but also life after baseball."

NIACC BASEBALL COACHES

Chick Sutherland (1931)

Lowell Cook (1956-1960)

Lyle Johnson (1961-72)

Gus Brandt (1973-81)

Jerry Dunbar (1982-2001)

Todd Rima (2002-12)

Travis Hergert (2013-19)

Drew Sannes (2020-)