Creston, IA—An offensive outburst for the Marshalltown Community College baseball team carried the Tigers to a road split with Southwestern Community College on Wednesday afternoon. MCC produced a season-high 16 hits in a 16-2 win in game one, but fell late in game two, 7-5.
Game one opened up with Anderson Villarroel (Caracas, Venezuela/U.E. Santisima Caridad) and Pedro Lopez (Naples, FL/Naples) connecting on back-to-back singles to lead off the game and Villarroel later scored on a wild pitch. MCC extended the lead with two runs in the second inning thanks to an RBI-single from Bryan Ventura (Carolina, PR/Next Level America), scoring Hunter Embray (Knoxville, IA/Twin Cedars) and an RBI-groundout from Colin Schroeder (Grimes, IA/Dallas Center-Grimes) that scored Engel Rosario (Santo Domingo, DR/Cenapec).
MCC starting pitcher Jorge Michael (Caracas, Venezuela/Claret) allowed just one baserunner through the first three innings of play to limit the Spartans. The Tiger offense came alive in the fourth inning as MCC put up five runs, all coming with two outs. Rosario provided the big hit off the inning, a three-run triple to deep right-center field.
Southwestern scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, but MCC struck again in the fifth inning, this time a seven-spot in the frame. Bennett Lopez (Dorado, PR/PRBA) hit a full count, three-run home run to left field and Ventura later sent a 2-1 pitch over the left field wall for a grand slam as MCC's 14-run lead ended the game in five innings.
Six different players recorded at least two hits, led by Villarroel's three. The sophomore is on a six-game hitting streak. Ventura finished the game with five RBI. Michael went the distance on the mound, allowing just four hits to pick up his first-career win.
The offense continued to roll in game two as the Tigers scored three runs in the first inning, capped by a two-run home run from Embray, the first of his career.
Southwestern scored one in the bottom of the first off of MCC starting pitcher Kolton Gonnerman (Centerville, IA/Centerville) and took a 5-3 lead in the third with four runs off of reliever Jake Haynes (Hollister, MO/Hollister). A sacrifice fly from Logan Holtz (Urbana, IA/Center Poit-Urbana) in the fourth scored Ryan Thrasher (Sherwood Park, AB/St. Francis Xavier) and a single from Rosario in the sixth scored Embray to tie the game at five.
The Spartans took advantage of a leadoff error in the bottom of the sixth and scored two runs off of reliever JD Barr (South Sioux City, NE/Bishop Heelan Catholic) to jump back on top. The Tigers had two runners in scoring position with no outs in the seventh inning, but were unable to take advantage of the opportunity as Southwestern held on to split with MCC.
Embray and Rosario both finished game two 2-4 at the plate. Gonnerman struck out four batters in two innings of work and now has a team-high 14 strikeouts in just 8.2 innings on the mound. Barr was credited with the loss.
The MCC JV team will take on Simpson JV at home on Thursday afternoon and the varsity team travels to Centerville for five games this weekend with a nonconference matchup against Indian Hills Community College slated for the opener at 3:00 PM on Friday.