Backroads and Ballfields: Kale Murphy Follows Teammate to Northeast Iowa CC
By Daniel Wilson ·
In September 2024, Northeast Iowa Community College hired a baseball coach for a team that didn't exist yet. Conner Klostermann had no roster, no schedule and a first season more than a year away. On Oct. 14, Kale Murphy of Interstate 35 High School in Truro, Iowa, became one of the newest names in that program's pipeline. He committed to NICC, where he'll keep playing alongside Roadrunner teammate Taite Fitch, who committed there Sept. 1.
Murphy is a class of 2027 outfielder and shortstop. His junior season line, as reported by Derek Martin of KMA Sports, reads .568/.677/.853 with 12 doubles, three triples, three home runs, 43 RBI, 56 runs and 43 stolen bases. KMA also lists 81 total bases, which lines up with that slugging percentage over roughly 95 at-bats.
Building From Zero
NICC announced Klostermann's hiring on Sept. 19, 2024, and he started the following week. He came from Northern State in Aberdeen, S.D., where he spent two years as a graduate assistant and two more as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Before that, he was an assistant at Beckman Catholic in Dyersville, his own high school, and he played at DMACC and Upper Iowa.
The college's release described a program that "must be created from scratch." Athletic director Nick Weinmeister said he expected Klostermann's familiarity with the area and his connections to help him fill the roster. Klostermann's own quote from that day: "I am excited to hit the ground running to bring in the first Cougar baseball recruiting class."
That first class arrived for the 2025-26 school year. The official roster lists 48 players, and all but two redshirt sophomores are listed as freshmen. Of the 47 with a hometown listed, 31 are from Iowa. Most of the rest came from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois. The 2026-27 roster leans just as hard on Iowa, with 33 Iowans among 45 players.
Year One on the Field
A roster built almost entirely of freshmen took its lumps. NICC opened Feb. 15 with a split against Highland Community College of Illinois, winning the second game 12-9. The Cougars finished 7-40 overall and 4-23 in conference play, according to the team's schedule page. At DMACC in early April, they blew a 7-1 lead in the eighth and lost 8-7 in 10 innings to finish a three-game sweep. Their first series win came April 25-26 against North Iowa Area Community College. On April 29, trailing Ellsworth 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth, Kaden Alstad homered to tie it and Nico Olszewski followed with a walk-off home run for a 2-1 win.
First baseman Damin Churchman hit .318 with nine home runs and a team-high 31 RBI, and right-hander Jack Fenwick struck out 50. Both made the ICCAC Division II all-region honorable mention team. "We are happy to come away with two all-region selections after year one," Klostermann said. The team also earned an ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award, which requires a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0.
What the Recruits Say
I can't tell you how Klostermann pitched either player beyond what they've said in public, but both said the same thing about him.
Murphy told KMA that NICC was one of the first schools he visited. "Coach (Conner Klostermann) was a really big plus when I visited because he really made it seem like he cared about me and was really invested in growing their program with it being their first year of baseball," he said. KMA also reported that Fitch's commitment gave Murphy another reason to choose NICC.
Fitch, a 2027 catcher and outfielder, told KMA in a Sept. 9 story that he visited around the middle of the summer. Klostermann, he said, "really stood out in the way that he cared for me on my first-ever visit with them." He also liked the facilities. "For being a brand new school and just putting baseball in, the facilities are really, really nice," Fitch said.
That gives Klostermann two players from the same Truro lineup in what would be his third recruiting class.
The Tools Behind the Line
Prep Baseball has measured Murphy a few times. In August 2025, listed as a shortstop and second baseman, he posted a max exit velocity of 94 mph and ran a 6.96 60-yard dash. At a May 3, 2026 event in central Iowa, he was listed at 6-foot, 160 pounds, with a 92 mph max exit velocity, a 77 mph outfield arm and a 7.18 60.
Murphy named three strengths himself. "I'd say my ability to hit and my approach to the plate is a really big plus," he said. He added his base running and his versatility, "because throughout high school, I've played multiple different positions."
According to KMA, he first cracked Interstate 35's varsity lineup after his eighth-grade season, and Fitch said he suited up for varsity as an eighth grader too. KMA's Murphy story says that core group has played together since its travel-ball days. Murphy credited coach Blake Jobe, his teammates and his family, and KMA reported that his father records his at-bats and reviews them with him.
For now, Murphy said, the decision has taken weight off his shoulders. "It's allowed me to play more free and stop worrying so much about the decision," he said.