Melanie Hermann was worried about her son after she heard about the news of a deadly crash in northwest Iowa when a driver lost control of a bus carrying the Iowa Lakes Community College baseball team and flipped it into a ditch.
The bus with 33 people on board was on its way to Arkansas Wednesday, Feb. 11 to play a series of games against North Arkansas College. Hermann saw her son’s phone location was stopped right where the crash occurred.
“I immediately knew something was wrong,” when she couldn’t reach 19-year-old Jaxon Hermann, a sophomore right-handed pitcher for the Iowa Lakes baseball team.
The bus was lying on its side in a ditch in Calhoun County just west of Twin Lakes along Highway 4, known to be a dangerous S-curve where there had been four crashes in the last 10 years, according to Iowa State Patrol Lt. Aaron Schmidt. The bus driver failed to “negotiate” the curve in the highway, overcorrected, and flipped the bus into a ditch, according to an Iowa State Patrol report.
“We frantically tried to figure out his status, and eventually I received a call from a medic on site,” Melanie Hermann wrote.
Hermann said her son is in an Iowa City hospital in stable condition.
Jaxon Hermann suffered four fractured vertebrae, a spinal bruise, a lacerated spleen, partially collapsed lungs, a large laceration on his elbow and two areas of bleeding on his brain. He was scheduled to have spinal surgery on Friday, Feb. 13.
Jaxon Hermann, who is from Ballard, joined the school’s baseball team last season and made an immediate impact. He appeared in six games and compiled 10 strikeouts across 13.2 innings.
Simply being on the mound was a huge success story for the right-hander. Hermann underwent open-heart surgery in 2021. His mom wrote that he endured numerous life-threatening complications during his two-month stay in the hospital.
“He had worked so hard through rehab to get back on track to play college baseball, his ultimate dream,” she said.
The Iowa Lakes community is still reeling from the crash that led to multiple injuries and the death of Carter “Tater” Johnson, a 19-year-old native of Rapid City, South Dakota. Johnson, a freshman who played outfield for the team, was dead when law enforcement arrived at the scene. The scene was about 70 miles south of the school’s main campus in Estherville.
All 33 people on board were transported to hospitals across Iowa.
“The baseball team is very close as they spend a lot of hours together at practice, games, eating out and around campus,” Melanie Hermann said. “It is a small school and everyone knows everyone.”
Former students ‘stay with us,’ Johnson’s former school district says
In high school, Johnson played for Post 22 Baseball, an American Legion team, according to a social media post from the team.
“We’re heartbroken over the loss of Tater Johnson, yet we celebrate his vibrant spirit and the profound impact he had on so many lives,” the post said. “Let’s stand together in support and prayer of his family and friends, holding onto the hope and resilience that defined his remarkable young life.”
Johnson was a 2025 graduate of Stevens High School in Rapid City, South Dakota.
“It is always incredibly difficult to lose former students,” Bobbi Schaefbauer, a spokesperson for Rapid City Area Schools, said in a statement. “They stay with us long after they leave our classrooms and hallways. Carter Johnson was full of life and promise, and his loss is deeply felt in our community. Our hearts are with his family, friends, and everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.”
Kyle Werner is the breaking news and public safety reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@registermedia.com
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020, 2023 and 2025 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Lakes pitcher to undergo spinal surgery after team’s bus crash
Reporting by Tommy Birch and Kyle Werner, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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