ICCAC Division II Baseball has been one of the most competitive leagues in the conference in terms of both competition and parity over the last decade. Six different teams took home regional crowns including four different teams in each of the last four seasons. (NIACC 3, DMCC, 2, Iowa Central 2, Kirkwood/Northeast/Southeastern 1).
Northeast won the Region XI Championship last year after an incredible run, winning five games in three days as the No. 4 seed working all the way thru the losers bracket. The Hawks will bring back Jayden Sinju and Derek Botaletto, All-Region infielders a season ago.
In 2020, the coaches voted that the Kirkwood Eagles are the favorite to win the conference. Kirkwood won the regional championship as recently as 2018 where they went on to the NJCAA Tournament. They hope to improve off of their fifth place finish in the conference standings from a year ago.
DMACC, 2019's regular season champions and 2018's regional tournament runner-up, are projected second in the conference. The Bears are under new leadership after the departure of Dave Pearson, the 2019 ICCAC Coach of the Year. Nic Mishler assumes the role as manager and hopes to maintain their success they say going 21-7 in conference play.
Two perennial contenders are right beind the Eagles & Bears in the projections. Southeastern is looking to get over the hump and win their first regional tournament since 2014. The Blackhawks, who are always in the hunt, finished in the top three in the conference each of the last 10 seasons, including regular season titles in 2011, 2016, and 2018.
NIACC, like DMACC, start the 2020 campaign with a new skipper. The Trojans lost Travis Hergert to the Philadelphia Phillies organization as a minor league pitching coordinator. Drew Sannes will take over for a team who finished sixth last year. The Trojans would love to get back to the point which they won three of four regional tournament champoinships, as they did in 2013, 2014 & 2016.
Iowa Central, Iowa Lakes and Ellsworth round out the projections for 2020 -- the Tritons are the only team of the three to win tournament championships last decade, which they did twice in 2010 and 2017.
The post-season finds a new home this year, after two years in Clinton, Iowa the five day, double elimination tournament moves to the Mt. Mercy Campus in Cedar Rapids. Check back in mid-May to see who is crowned in 2020!
