Despite ample snow on the ground and only recently moderating weather conditions, baseball season is here for the Vermilion Ironhawks. In fact, the community college baseball team doesn’t even have to leave the state to get its 2026 campaign underway.
Thanks to artificial turf and forecasts calling for highs reaching the lower-50s, Vermilion will take on M State-Fergus Falls in a 12:30 p.m. doubleheader Monday, on the campus of Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter, MN.
It will be the earliest season- opener in Vermilion baseball history.
Vermilion has taken a spring trip to Florida each March for roughly two decades, but the Ironhawks are now joining the growing ranks of Minnesota collegiate baseball teams who play games in February - a concept unheard of as recently as six or seven years ago.
“More teams are going to places like Kansas or Nebraska to start their seasons early,” said Vermilion Head Coach Tom Coombe. “And artificial turf makes it so much easier now to play that you can even play in Minnesota on turf on the right day in February.”
Vermilion practiced and scrimmaged two years ago in late-February in Aurora, and has games scheduled there this year as early as mid-March.
Meanwhile, the Ironhawks will get started with two games Monday and another four the weekend of Feb. 21-22 in Wakefield, Nebraska, against Dakota- Bottineau (N.D.)
“We start practice in the middle of January, so this gives us something to shoot toward rather than just spending months in the gym,” said Coombe. “I know our guys are excited about getting the chance to play before we go to Florida in March.”
Vermilion returns 16 sophomores from a team that went 20-22 last spring.
That group includes all-region catcher Martin Cubillan (St. Paul), and all-conference returnees Andrew Ritter (PSS, South St. Paul), TJ Frein (1B-P, Bloomington) and Jo Jo Taverna (P-IF, Bloomington).
The Ironhawks also have some local flavor with North Woods graduate and former Ely Legion standout Louie Panichi expected to contribute both on the mound and in the outfield.
The Vermilion roster includes 25 players.
