Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Ty Gargano of Humboldt pitches against St. Edmond on Wednesday at Rogers Park. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

Humboldt baseball coach Jason Thurm doesn’t have any secret recipe to success.

There are no shortcuts for the freshly-minted North Central Conference champion Wildcats. Thurm’s squad plays hard, shows resilience and always has each other’s backs.

The Wildcats didn’t skip a beat less than 48 hours after officially capturing the outright NCC title, remaining unbeaten in league play with a 11-3 victory over St. Edmond at Rogers Park on Wednesday evening.

“I think consistency is the key word,” Thurm said of his Wildcats, who are now 22-3 overall and 13-0 in the NCC. “Our guys have shown tremendous focus and effort night in and night out. They don’t like the idea of having an ‘off’ night. And that’s rare in a sport like baseball, which can become a grind with the daily schedule — especially this time of year.

“This team is just ready to go. It’s a very business-like approach. They really pull for each other, too. We’re very fortunate to have that as a staff.”

Humboldt plated two runs in the opening frame, then went on the attack in the third inning by tacking on six more.

Seven different Wildcats had hits, as Riley Sorenson led the way with two hits — including a triple — and three runs scored.

Isaiah Busick and Trever Beach scored twice, while Beach, Corey Dettmann and Mason Van Pelt all drove in a pair.

Senior Ty Gargano did the rest, improving to 5-2 with a complete-game performance. Humboldt stretched its overall win streak to six, and the Wildcats have out-scored their last three opponents by a combined run total of 37-3 this week.

“I thought our approach at the plate was better,” SEHS head coach Mike Szalat said. “We only struck out three times, and in those at-bats, we watched too many strikes go by. We’ve been working on being more aggressive and looking for fastballs early in the count rather than backing ourselves into a corner.

“This is a hard enough game as it is without trying to hit a pitcher’s pitch instead of your pitch.”

Grant Galles had three hits — including a double — for St. Edmond.

“Grant had a nice night, and John Nemmers hit the ball twice to the deepest part of the park,” Szalat said. “He went to right field…when he starts using the whole field, that’s when he’s at his best.

“Humboldt hit well. They have some big, tough kids. Men. We were outsized, from JV through varsity. They’re rolling in everything right now, which is a credit to their community. I’m really happy for Jason…he does things the right way.”

Thurm said winning a conference title wasn’t necessarily a discussed goal before the season started.

“We just want to make sure we’re in the hunt,” Thurm said. “You do that by controlling what you can. If that’s enough, great.

“We maybe had a little bit of a question mark in the pitching department before the season, but Jayden (Gargano), Ty and Isaiah have really answered the call and done a tremendous job (a combined 17-3 as starters). At this level, you can never have enough quality pitching.”

St. Edmond returns to action on Thursday at home against Bishop Garrigan. First varsity pitch is set for 7:30 p.m.