Five seniors led the Collins-Maxwell baseball team to the best season in program history

An experienced Collins-Maxwell baseball team turned in the best season in program history to send a class of five seniors out on a high note.

The Spartans went 16-8 overall and won the Iowa Star Conference South Division for the first time in school history with a 12-3 record. Collins-Maxwell's seniors — Caleb Dvorak, Luke Huntrods, Jace Huntrods, Blake Huntrods and Caden Hasbrouck — helped the program grow immensely since going 1-17 during its inaugural season in 2019 when they were playing as eighth-graders.

"It was great for this senior class to earn a conference championship in their final season together," said Collins-Maxwell coach Jason Hasbrouck. "These boys have been together for five years, taking some lumps their first season together after having to play varsity baseball as eighth graders. I was proud of the work they put in to achieve this goal."

Collins-Maxwell opened the season with a 7-3 victory over Ogden. Then the Spartans dropped four straight against Lynnville-Sully (6-3), Interstate-35 (6-3), North Tama (3-2) and Janesville (12-7).

But it did not take them long to turn things around. The Spartans reeled off seven-consecutive victories from May 24 through June 7 by besting Colo-NESCO (3-2), BCLUW (16-0), GMG (5-1), Baxter (9-0), North Tama (10-6), Colo-NESCO again (12-1) and Clarksville (12-2).

Grand View Christian snapped Collins-Maxwell's streak with a 10-1 win over the Spartans June 8. But Collins-Maxwell came back with victories over BCLUW (13-1), Dunkerton (7-5), GMG (8-4) and Riceville (13-3).

The Spartans fell to Pleasantville at home June by an 8-3 score, but they rebounded with an 11-9 rivalry win over Baxter. They ended the regular season by falling to top-10 1A power Don Bosco (16-4) and defeating Ankeny Christian at home (7-3).

Collins-Maxwell opened 1A District 3 play with a 10-0 victory over AGWSR July 3 in Collins. Two days later they defeated Madrid in the semifinals at Collins in a 5-4 battle.

That set up a confrontation with No. 1 Newman Catholic for the district championship July 8 at Mason City. The Spartans saw their season end with an 8-0 loss to the Knights.

"The heartbreak and the end are difficult for players, coaches and parents, but seeing everything they put in day in, day out allowed them to create memories that they'll carry with them forever," Hasbrouck said. "At the end of the day as a coach your only hope is that they had fun and you made some form of positive influence on them."

Coach Hasbrouck said there were many fond memories he had of the season, with two recent ones sticking out the most.

"Caden's walk-off grand slam against Ankeny Christian and Blake's base hit to score the winning run in a comeback win against Madrid in district playoffs," Coach Hasbrouck said. "In all honesty, every player has a memorable play or moment that when I think back, I can remember vividly."

Collins-Maxwell scored 171 runs and hit .332 as a team with 46 doubles, two triples, six homers, 96 walks and 67 steals.

"We did a great job of hitting the ball this year," Hasbrouck said. "One through nine in the lineup, I felt confident in whoever was up that they could get the job done."

The Spartan pitching staff allowed 104 runs and had a staff ERA of 3.87 with 147 strikeouts and 95 walks in 143 innings. The defense had a fielding percentage of 94.6%.

The Spartan pitching staff was led by Jace Huntrods and freshman Cooper Wierson.

Huntrods went 7-3 with a 2.91 ERA, 47 strikeouts and 22 walks in 45 2/3 innings. Wierson finished 6-1 with a 1.42 ERA, 50 strikeouts and 15 walks in 44 1/3 innings.

Caden Hasbrouck and Caleb Dvorak were both 2-0. Hasbrouck had a 2.47 ERA with 22 strikeouts and 19 walks in 22 2/3 innings and Dvorak tallied a 3.78 ERA with eight strikeouts and 13 walks in 16 2/3 innings.

Luke Huntrods threw 11 2/3 innings and went 0-2 with 19 strikeouts and 24 walks.

On offense Caleb Dvorak led the charge by hitting .468 with 12 doubles, three homers, 26 runs and 24 RBIs. He only made four errors in 55 chances defensively.

Josef Dvorak hit .406 with eight doubles, one triple, one homer, 18 runs and 22 RBIs. He stole 11 bases and only recorded two errors in 30 chances.

Caden Hasbrouck hit .380 with four doubles, one homer, 12 runs and 21 RBIs. He only had five errors in 125 chances defensively.

Jace Huntrods recorded a .362 average with four doubles, 29 runs, 10 RBIs and 14 steals. He went without an error in 28 fielding chances.

Luke Huntrods hit .333 with six doubles, one homer, 20 runs and nine RBIs. He threw out five base runners at catcher and only had two errors in 119 chances.

Freshman Austin Boege also hit .333 and he tallied five doubles, 11 runs and 17 RBIs. Boege made 48 putouts and 17 assists on defense.

Wierson posted a .309 average with 16 walks, six doubles, one triple, 26 runs, 15 steals and seven RBIs as the team's leadoff hitter. In the field Wierson finished with five errors in 56 chances.

Freshman Reed Oswalt hit .276 with nine runs and two RBIs in 29 at-bats and Blake Huntrods .209 with 13 runs and 10 RBIs. Oswalt only had one error on the season and Blake Huntrods made just three in 42 chances.

Elliott Kane chipped in three runs and one RBI in 20 plate appearances.

Next season Collins-Maxwell will likely go through a little bit of rebuilding with the loss of such an experienced and talented senior group. But with Wierson and Boege leading the way the Spartans do not plan on dropping much, if at all, in 2024.

"We graduate with a lot of experience," Coach Hasbrouck said. "But I have full confidence in the underclassman and returning starters to continue what this year's senior class built and is leaving behind."

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Seniors lead Collins-Maxwell baseball team to its best season ever