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ALEXANDRIA — The Alexandria baseball team had much to celebrate after finishing in third place at the Class AAA state tournament this past spring, and the Cardinals named senior catcher Lake Hagen as its team MVP after he helped lead them to a 21-7 overall record.
Hagen also earned the team’s Most Improved Award and joined fellow seniors JD Hennen, Brock Lerfald and Caleb Runge in being named All-Central Lakes Conference players. Hennen and Runge were both named to the Class AAA state all-tournament team.
Seniors Nate Hammerback and Parker Jendro were honorable-mention All-CLC players, and juniors Jaxon Schoenrock (.286 batting average, 16 RBI, 15 runs; 38.1 IP, 50 SO, 1.46 ERA) and Nick Levasseur also added that honorable-mention honor.
Hagen was consistently behind the plate catching a pitching staff that finished with a team ERA of 1.865. He played in 27 of the 28 games, and in addition to his defense, had a team-high (among starters) .407 batting average with a team-best 29 RBI’s. Hagen had 13 doubles, and one home run to go with 10 walks and just nine strikeouts for a .464 on-base percentage.
Hennen earned Alexandria’s Most Valuable Pitcher Award. He threw 43 innings, second only to Jendro, who finished at 46.1 innings with 40 strikeouts and a 2.266 ERA. Hennen led the team in strikeouts with 75 as he posted a 1.302 ERA in nine starts. He also hit .318 with 16 RBI’s and 13 runs scored.
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Levasseur was also a big part of the pitching staff as he took home the Lock Down Award. Levasseur made 12 appearances in relief and threw 18 innings, posting a 0.389 ERA with 17 strikeouts, nine hits allowed and five walks.
Lerfald took the Gold Glove Award as he anchored the infield play from second base. He also was a top offensive player for Alexandria, finishing with a .385 batting average, .436 on-base percentage, 18 RBI’s and a team-high 27 runs scored.
Hammerback earned the Pat Callaghan Award for his leadership role on this team. He solidified first base defensively and hit .287 with a .337 on-base percentage, 11 RBI’s and 15 runs scored.
Runge added the final team award for the Cardinals with the Big Stick Award. He hit .352 with a .457 on-base percentage. Runge had eight doubles, two home runs, one triple, 19 RBI’s and 23 runs scored.
Alexandria’s pitching got a lot of headlines for this group with that 1.865 team ERA and 221 strikeouts in 187.2 innings. But the offense put pressure on teams up and down the lineup too.
The Cardinals had a team batting average of .324. Spencer Schmidt (.750 AVG, 4 AB), Wyatt Mohr (.636 BA, 11 AB), Matthew Hornstein (.500 BA, 4 AB), Hagen, Lerfald, Runge, Nate Knoll (.333 BA, 3 AB), Reed Reisdorf (.330 BA, 91 AB), Hennen, and Devin Cimbura (.311 BA, 45 AB) all hit over .300 in various roles for the team.
