5 Comets named to All-NEIC baseball teams
Comet senior catcher Dylan Salinas was named to the All-NEIC Baseball first team.
Charles City junior shortstop, pitcher and catcher Cole Reams was named to the All-NEIC Baseball second team.
Charles City junior outfielder Colton Slinger was named to the All-NEIC Baseball second team.
Charles City junior third baseman Jace Cajthaml was named to the All-NEIC Baseball second team.
Charles City senior pitcher and outfielder Theo Arndt was named All-NEIC Baseball honorable mention.
By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com
The Charles City Comets recently concluded an interesting baseball season that saw them pull off come-from-behind and late-inning-heroics victories, earn wins over several state-ranked conference rivals, and even perform a “tripleheader” sweep against Waukon.
The Comets finished the season at 16-12 overall after losing to Waverly-Shell Rock in the district final. The Go-Hawks took a 4-0 lead in the first inning before the Comets came back to tie it at 5 in their half of the fifth.
Waverly-Shell Rock would end up scoring the deciding run in a 6-5 final, and with a 6-2 victory over West Delaware in subsequent substate game, advanced to the State Baseball Championships.
After competing within the highly competitive Northeast Iowa Conference and hitting better than .300 as a team, five Comets were honored with all-conference selections this week.
Charles City’s lone first-team selection was senior catcher Dylan Salinas, who led the Comets in hits (36), doubles (15) and RBIs (31). Salinas also hit two home runs and had a .375 batting average.
As a catcher, Salinas threw out 11 would-be base-stealers. He also was effective on the mound with a 3-0 record and 1.47 earned run average. In less than 30 innings pitched, Salinas struck out 41.
Named to the second team were Comet juniors Jace Cajthaml, Cole Reams and Colton Slinger.
Third baseman Cajthaml led the Comets in homers (3) and had a .500 slugging percentage.
Reams hit .319 with two home runs, and led the Comets with eight sacrifices. Reams played shortstop, caught when Salinas pitched, and was an effective pitcher himself often in long-relief roles like the one he was called on to do against the Go-Hawks in the district final while helping his team get back in the game.
Slinger led the team in batting average (.378), on-base percentage (.521) and runs scored (28). While patrolling the outfield, Slinger didn’t make a single error this past season.
Comet senior Theo Arndt earned his second-straight All-NEIC honorable mention selection after hitting .357 and leading his team in stolen bases (22).
Arndt also had the most wins on the mound (5) for the Comets while logging in the most innings pitched (53).
2018 NEIC All-Conference Selections
First Team
Name Year Position School
Brady Leonard 12 P Waverly-SR
Brannan Hogan 12 P Decorah
Dylan Salinas 12 C Charles City
Mason Cleveland 11 INF New Hampton
Noah Fye 12 INF New Hampton
Dom Robertson 11 INF Oelwein
Ryan Willis 12 INF Waverly-SR
Drake Shelton 11 INF Decorah .
Josh Fenske 12 OF New Hampton
Jackson Varney 12 OF Decorah
Kaden Dewey 10 OF Waverly-SR
Aden Zwanziger 12 UTIL New Hampton
Second Team
Name Year Position School
Steven Nicolay 11 P Oelwein
Thomas Knoke 12 P Decorah
Ian Smith 12 C Decorah
Luke Willis 12 INF Waverly-SR
Cole Reams 11 INF Charles City
Kailer McCabe 11 INF Decorah
Frank Hrdlicka 11 INF Crestwood
Jace Cajthaml 11 INF Charles City
Colton Slinger 11 OF Charles City
Sayer Woodson 12 OF Oelwein
Dawson Holkesvik 12 OF Decorah
Zach Wegner 11 UTIL Oelwein
Honorable Mention
Name Year Position School
Kurby Vowels 10 P Waverly-SR
Wyatt Stochl 11 C New Hampton
Ryan Anderson 11 INF New Hampton
Carson Kallenberger 12 INF
Waverly-SR
Dillon Arndt 11 INF Oelwein
Payton Leonard 10 OF Waverly-SR
Colter Bye 11 OF Crestwood
Theo Arndt 12 UTIL Charles City
Abe Schwartz 12 UTIL Waukon
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