Marshalltown, IA—Ty Russell (Victoria, BC/Lambrick Park) delivered a bases-loaded walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Marshalltown Community College baseball team a 6-5 game two win over Muscatine Community College on Saturday. The Tigers opened up the day with a 6-5 game one win.
Russell came to the plate in the eighth having gone hitless in his first four plate appearances. Alexis Melendez (San Juan, PR/IBA) smacked a pinch-hit single to lead off the inning while Austin Allen (Milo IA/Southeast Warren) reached on a misplayed fly ball and Daryl Blaskovich (Brentwood Bay, BC/Lamrick Park) was intentionally walked to load the bases.
Russell drove the first pitch he saw off the bottom of the right field fence to bring in pinch-runner John Krause (Slater, IA/Ballard) for the winning run and give the Tigers their third win over the Cardinals this weekend. MCC finished the regular season series against Muscatine 7-1 and are now 8-12 in Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) play and 20-28 overall. This is the fourth straight season the Tigers have hit the 20-win plateau.
Austin Battaglia (Waukee, IA/Waukee) got the start on the hill in game one for the Tigers and allowed just two earned runs on six hits in five innings of work. The Tiger offense gave Battaglia run support early on with a pair of runs in the third on a two-out single from Russell, scoring Ryan Thrasher (Sherwood Park, AB/St. Francis Xavier) and Colin Schroeder (Grimes, IA/Dallas Center-Grimes).
The Cardinals scored a run in the fourth but the Tigers responded with four in the bottom half of the inning thanks to RBI-singles from Thrasher and Schroeder and a two-run double from Blaskovich. The Cardinals made things interesting with a two-run home run in the sixth inning, but reliever Parker Rolfes (Le Mars, IA/Le Mars) struck out five batters over the final two innings to record the save.
Game two saw the Tigers build a three-run lead in the first inning from the bat of Bennett Mann (Marshalltown, IA/Marshalltown) as the sophomore delivered his league-leading 11th home run to left field, scoring Russell and Eric Kent (Fort Madison, IA/Fort Madison). MCC added two more runs in the second, including an RBI-single from Kent.
Starting pitcher Alex McCune (Johnston, IA/Johnston) kept the Cardinals scoreless through the first five innings of play, allowing just five batters to reach base. Muscatine's offense broke through in the sixth, scoring five runs on five hits and two errors to tie the game at five.
After the two sides traded zeroes in the seventh inning, Schyler Kane (Pella, IA/Pella) came in work to the top of the eighth and sat the Cardinals down in order, including two strikeouts to set the stage for Russell's dramatics and earn the win.
Allen, Blaskovich, and Kent all recorded two hits in the nightcap as the Tigers collected 12 hits as a team. After scoring a combined 70 runs in the team's previous four-game series, MCC and Muscatine provided a change of pace and totaled 32 runs this weekend.
The Tigers will play a nonconference doubleheader at home against Iowa Central Community College on Tuesday before hosting Indian Hills Community College on May 3 for the team's final regular season series.
