Storm baseball wins Region IX tournament

The Storm baseball team captured the Region IX championship held Saturday, May 10, and Sunday, May 11, at Miles City, Mont.

SCC edged Dawson Community College 6-5 on Saturday. Albert Johnson and Danny Regan homered for Southeast, while Tandon Dorn drove in two RBIs.

Ryan Herdman (4-5) earned the win, and Nick Houston was called in for the save.

A nine run fifth inning propelled Miles Community College to a 13-3 win over the Storm in the second game. MCC scattered 10 hits and took advantage of five Southeast errors.

A resilient SCC team came back strong on Sunday.

Southeast trailed Miles 5-4 before knocking off six unanswered runs heading into the ninth. The Storm added five insurance runs to cement a15-8 win. Dylan Yost and Trevor Vermeer each blasted four RBIs, while Miles hurt themselves with four fielding errors.

The Storm roared past MCC 7-2 in a winner-take-all game for the championship.

First year Head Coach Dion Parks said he felt his team was ready for the regional tournament, despite the long trip to Montana.

“We weren’t worried,” Parks explained. “(The tournament’s location) was outside our control, and we try to stay focus what we have control of.”

The coach said regional host Miles CC was one of the better teams Southeast beat this year.

“Miles is a first-class program with a lot of tradition and history, “Parks stated.

Southeast was 20-4 at home on the season, but just 12-14 on the road. Parks called the road schedule “brutal,” but added that it helped prepare them for the regional tournament.

The Storm travel to Burlington, Iowa, or Boone, Iowa, for the district tournament on Saturday, May 17, and Sunday, May 18. The exact time and location was to be determined at press time.