May 18, 2010
Duluth News Tribune

Denfeld wins final regular-season meeting with Central
By Rick Weegman

Jordan Verry didn’t treat his future teammates very nicely Monday.

The Duluth Denfeld junior pitcher tossed a four-hitter and struck out eight to lead the Hunters to a 4-2 win over host Duluth Central in the final regular-season baseball meeting between the schools.

Verry expects to be a part of the combined Denfeld-Central program next year as the Duluth school district consolidates from three public high schools to two. Denfeld will close for renovations while Central remains open one more year.

“We’re going to have a good team because we have a lot of returning players and they have a lot of returning players,” Verry said. “I think it’s going to be a pretty strong team next year; starting spots are going to be tough to come by.”

Denfeld only has one senior on its roster, while Central’s roster lists nine non-seniors on its varsity.

“The Denfeld-Central baseball team has a very strong future. We had three sophomores starting and Denfeld had some underclassmen,” said Central coach Greg Anderson, who is not re-applying for the position when it is opened next month. “If the new coach is interested, I’ll be more than happy to give them a rundown of the kids who played here this year.”

Combined with a 6-0 victory last week, the Hunters (4-8) earned final bragging rights in the series. Now the sides must put aside any tensions and concentrate on playing as one.

“We’ve talked a lot to come together, to get over the rivalry part and work together as a team,” Verry said.

That’s true even if the returning Hunters end up wearing the Trojans’ colors as might be the case next year.

“We’ll all out here to play baseball and it doesn’t matter what color we’re wearing,” Verry said. “I just love the game, so I’ll wear whatever.”