Baseball: Voyageurs hope to return to Florida in 2012

“It was pretty sweet to finally play on a field. Play some competitive games and see how our team bonds this year,” said J.C. Crane, one of three sophomore captains.

By all accounts team bonding was the highlight from the week-long trip to Davenport, Fla., roughly 35 miles southwest of Orlando. The Voyageurs left March 5 and returned Saturday.

“It definitely makes you closer together. Builds camaraderie,” said Mike Dickerson, a transfer from Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas. “I usually didn’t talk to any teammates before the trip, but now I talk to them all the time.”

RRCC’s biggest struggles came at the plate and on the mound in the eight games. The Voyageurs hit only .200 as a team and had a cumulative earned run average of 8.24. Voyageurs hurlers walked 37 and surrendered 73 hits in 51 innings. The defense was a bright spot, however.

“I was impressed defensively,” head coach Josh Koenig said, noting nine errors in eight games. “The biggest areas we have to improve on are hitting No. 1 and secondly, pitching has to be more consistent. If we pitched consistently and played good defense, we were in games. In those games, we lacked stringing together hits.”

The Voyageurs had only one doubleheader rained out on Thursday, but made up those games before departing Saturday by playing Hibbing and Mesabi Range in back-to-back contests.

“We definitely have people that can put the ball in play. We definitely have good defense,” Dickerson said. “We just all have to put together hits with runners in scoring position. We have good depth with only 17 people.”

Crane was on last year’s team that finished 4-26 in its inaugural season.

“I think we can be better at just about everything,” he said.

Koenig wants to return to Florida in 2012.

“Yea, definitely,” he said. “It was well worth it. Showed us our strengths and our weaknesses and what we need to improve on.”

A recap of the eight games:

March 7

St. Cloud Tech 3, RRCC 1

• Losing pitcher — Chad Sohlman (CG, 7IP, 8H, 3R, BB, K)

• Notable hitters — Mike Dickerson (1-3, R, 2SB); Evan Marsh (1-3).

St. Cloud Tech 10, RRCC 6

• LP — Adrian Romo (4 1/3IP, 10H, 8R, 2BB, 8K); Kevin McNarland (1 2/3IP, 3H, 2R, K)

• Notable hitters — Dickerson (1-3, 2B, 2R, SB, BB); J.C. Crane (2-3, 2R, 2B, SB, BB, HBP, 2RBI); Zaul Tapia (2-3, RBI); Mike Menard (1-3, 2R, SB, RBI); Marc Simard (1-3, 2RBI).

March 8

Kings (Pa.) JV 9, RRCC 5

• LP — Simard (4 1/3IP, 5H, 9R, 8ER, 8BB, 2K); McNarland (1 2/3IP, BB, K).

• Notable hitters — Dickerson (1-3, R, 4SB, BB, RBI); Chris Verdugo (2-3, R); Alan Strom (1-3, 2B, 2RBI).

Mount Union (Ohio) JV 12,

RRCC 2

• LP — Colin Barton (2IP, 6H, 7R, 5BB); Marsh (3IP, 7H, 5R, 4ER, 3BB, 2K); Tony Zelazny (2IP, 2H, 2GIDP).

• Notable hitter — Crane (2-3, SB, RBI).

March 11

Fergus Falls 9, RRCC 2

• LP — Sohlman (CG, 6IP, 9R, 8ER, 2BB, 5K).

• Notable hitters — Simard (2-3), Strom (1-1, 2BB, SB, RBI); Crane (1-3, RBI).

Fergus Falls 12, RRCC 1

• LP — Verdugo (2 2/3IP, 10H, 8R, 4BB, 4K); Barton (IP, 3R, 1ER, 3BB, K); McNarland (1 1/3IP, H, R, 3K).

• Notable hitters — Dickerson (2-3, R, 2SB); Crane (2-3, 2B, RBI).

March 12

RRCC 8, Hibbing 1

• Winning pitcher — Zelazny (6IP, R, 4H, 2BB, 6K); Crane (IP, K).

• Notable hitters — Verdugo (2-4, R, 2RBI); Crane (1-2, 2BB, 3RBI); Dickerson (1-2, 2R, 2SB, 2BB); Marsh (1-2, 2BB, RBI).

Mesabi Range 7, RRCC 0

• LP — Romo (2IP, 3H, 5R, 4ER, 3BB, 2HBP, 4K); Verdugo (3IP, 3H, R, 0ER, 2BB, 2K); Crane (2IP, 2H, R, BB, 4K).

• Notable hitters — Dickerson (2-3, SB).

Team leaders:

Pitching

G ERA IP H R K BB W-L

Tony Zelazny

2 0.88 8 6 1 6 2 1-0

J.C. Crane

2 2.33 3 2 1 5 1 0-0

Kevin McNarland

3 4.50 4 2/3 4 3 4 1 0-0

Chad Sohlman

2 5.92 13 17 12 6 3 0-2

Hitting

G .OBA .BA R H 2B RBI SB

Chris Verdugo

6 .500 .417 3 5 0 2 0

J.C. Crane

8 .500 .409 2 9 2 7 2

Mike Dickerson

8 .483 .375 8 9 1 1 13