Comets defeat Cadets 15-5 in six innings for their first win of the baseball season

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Someone suggested they should play Phil Collins’s In The Air Tonight for the half inning changeover music on the PA.

Indeed, if there was ever a time to transmit good vibes after a heart-breaking 1-run loss in the first game of a doubleheader, last Friday sure provided the opportunity for the Comets and their fans as that elusive first win of the season seemed to be just hours away.

Charles City hosted Crestwood in a Northeast Iowa Conference baseball twin bill. It was the second DH of the season between the teams with the Cadets sweeping the Comets in Cresco three weeks before.

In that DH loss, and in most other conference DH losses this season, the Comets suffered a one-sided setback in the first game before playing much more competitively in the second game — but couldn’t avoid the sweep.

Rallying late to nearly tie and/or win the first game only to fall short seemed to, nonetheless, bode well for the then winless Comets going into the second game of Friday’s DH. And, sure enough, Charles City finally ended up on the favorable end of a shortened game with a 15-5 victory in six innings to finally put the team in the win column.

Not only was it the Comets’ first win of 2025, but history was likely made during one of the best defensive plays of the season for Charles City.

Leading off the top of the fourth in the second game, Cadet sophomore Trenton Voyna hit a sinking line drive to center field only to have Comet junior CF Vincent Benning get a good jump on it and snare it off the outfield grass with an all-out diving catch.

Actually, Voyna led off the inning drawing a walk, but when Charles City head coach Tyler Downing alerted the umpiring crew that Voyna was due up second in the inning, the hitter that was supposed to lead off was ruled out due to the Cadets batting out of order, and Voyna was taken off the base paths to hit again to resume the correct order of Crestwood’s lineup.

That’s when Voyna was robbed by Benning, essentially becoming the first person in the history of baseball to lead off an inning (twice) hitting into a doubleplay.

And just to think Benning wasn’t even projected to be in center field for game two. Instead, he was the starting pitcher who was relieved with two outs in the first inning after giving up 3 runs and three walks.

When Benning was relieved by freshman Brennan Ruzicka, he took the place of sophomore Noah White in CF. Having emerged as the Comets’ No. 1 starter, White had pitched a complete game earlier that week and was unavailable for mound work during Friday’s DH, so being replaced early in the game limited further participation. Still, White acted as a good teammate when he enthusiastically tried to cheer up a downtrodden Benning when they switched positions — Benning to CF; White to the bench.

In addition to recording that historic inning-starting doubleplay (unassisted), Benning went 2 for 3 with a double, scored 2 runs and drove in 2 others after his “tough outing” on the way to contributing to the Comets’ first win.

Sophomore Cameron Littleton, who often catches both games during these sometimes-sultry DHs, was 3 for 4 with a double, 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs; Ruzicka got the win after giving up 1 earned run in three-and-a-third innings of relief; and junior Holden McInroy pitched two innings of one-hit shutout baseball while striking out 5 and walking none in the second game for the Comets.

Down 5-1 in the first game, Comet junior Sawyer Hanson led off the bottom of the seventh with a double ahead of Ethan Hadley drawing a walk and Brennan Ruzicka driving Hanson home with a single.

Senior Jackson Ruzicka was “one more biscuit for breakfast” from tying it with a 3-run home run, but his double off the “Orange Monster” in left-center field did manage to chase home Hadley and Brennan Ruzicka.

With still no outs and the tying run on base, Crestwood sophomore starting pitcher Ethan Bergan was relieved by freshman Noah Bergen with the latter Bergen getting the next three Comet outs in order while preserving the win for his team and for his older brother.

That was the seventh win of the season for the Cadets, who left Charles City with an overall record of 7-13 and a 5-9 mark in the NEIC.

After losing 10-8 to New Hampton in a rescheduled NEIC game on Monday, Charles City (1-20, 1-13) will host Decorah in a NEIC DH as part of “Future Comet Night” on Tuesday with the first pitch of the first game at 5 p.m.