CLOQUET, Minn. - Since the Cloquet baseball program's last state tournament appearance was nearly 35 years ago, current Lumberjack head coach Steve Jezierski and his boys were looking to make it back to the section final to break that streak.
And they did make it back to the finals for a shot at state.
It was through their lights-out pitching, hitting and defense that the Lumberjacks finished the spring baseball season with a solid 16-10 record en route to making it back to the Section 7AA final like last year. However, like last year, Cloquet was defeated by Mora and again, denied a bid to state.
But even though the 'Jacks fell short, Jezierski, along with assistant coach Rick Stowell and first-year assistant Brent Pokornowski, has brought Cloquet back to a winning program to say the least.
"We wanted to make this a winning program again and I think we've turned the corner and built a pretty good reputation," said Jezierski, who along with his coaching staff has posted more than 50 wins in just three years. "But its not just one coach, it's all three of us together. Both Rick and Brent deserve a lot of credit for their knowledge and ability to teach the game with this program."
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With Cloquet losing senior catcher Thomas Jezierski, shortstop Dennis Conklin and outfielder Dedric Clark to graduation, the road may be tough, but one can only bet that the talented, young, experienced and winning Lumberjack program - like the past two years - will have a good shot next season to put themselves back in position to break the streak and, finally, make that trip to state.
