St. Cloud books trip to third straight World Series
The St. Cloud Technical and Community College baseball Cyclones are going to the NJAAC Division III World Series for the third year in a row after defeating former coach Jason Fischer and the Alexandria Technical and Community College Legends.
The Clones (24-10) have won six games straight, going 10-11 in May. Most recently they beat Alexandria 12-5 on May 20 while hosting the North Plains District Playoffs at Dick Putz Field.
Manager David Kroger Jr. said the team talked about returning to the World Series on the first day of fall practice in 2022.
“We’re firm believers in speaking it into existence and on paper we had a more talented group this year but being young, you never know,” he said.
It is Kroger’s second year in charge of the team. He was promoted from the assistant position, which he held under Fischer who coached the Cyclones for 10 years. Fisher left after the World Series run in 2021 to coach the new Legends team and Kroger said he voted for Fischer to win this year's Minnesota College Athletic Conference coach of the year award.
“He puts together good ball clubs and they’re a great team,” Kroger said, saying it was impressive building the team from scratch.
Kroger received the coach of the year plaque following the game.
SCTCC sophomore second baseman Joel Torres Rivera was 4-5 against Alexandria (23-10), scoring two runs from the leadoff spot. He won most valuable player of the tournament, hitting .462 so far in the postseason.
“You know I didn’t expect this to happen, I just play for my team and my boys,” Torres Rivera said. “For this, I work every day, every morning.”
Torres Rivera led an offense that scored early against Alexandria, then piled on in later innings to shut the door. The Cyclones pounded three Legend pitchers for 16 hits and forced two errors. Torres Rivera, who is from Aibonito, Puerto Rico said the team trusts each other and “feels like a family.”
“We’ve struggled at the plate a little bit in and out of the year,” Kroger said. “We have a really young group and went through a lot of growing pains early on, but the guys just believed in one another. We believed in them, and they found a way today.”
SCTCC’s freshman cleanup hitter Brock Woitalla, who leads the team in hits (43) and average (.381) was 3-5 and freshman catcher Blaine Fischer also had three hits, though he needed one less at bat. Sophomore shortstop Dylan Gertken and freshman left fielder Matthew Perry paced the team in RBI both picking up two with two hits.
St. Cloud Cathedral product Jack Theisen was 2-3 for Alexandria, scoring two runs and hitting two more home.
Woitalla started the game on the mound, giving up two home runs and three total runs before he was pulled in two innings. Freshman Kayden Swenson went four innings in relief, notching his first decision of the year in a win column.
“It's really cool to see how much (Swenson's) grown over the last couple of years,” Kroger, who trained the Elk River native while he was in high school, said. “His confidence has went through the roof. He's got a way better demeanor. In his first game down in Florida, he was pretty much shaking on the mound. To be in that situation today, that was impressive.”
Sophomore Landon Lunser – a Sauk Rapids native – threw three perfect frames for SCTCC to close the book on what could have been a bullpen game. ATCC freshman Caden Sand, an Albany native, was the only Legend to throw a full inning without giving up a run. He went 2.2, striking out one.
SCTCC has a few days before the team travels to the Junior College Division III World Series at Pioneer Park in Greenville, Tennessee.
Last year St. Cloud was seeded 8th out of as many teams and Kroger expects to have a similar challenge in the forthcoming tournament. The double-elimination bracket will be seeded this week and the first game is May 27.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. Cloud books trip to third straight World Series
