Centerville, IA—Ryan Thrasher (Sherwood Park, AB/St. Francis Xavier) lifted the Marshalltown Community College baseball team to a 4-3 win with a walk-off double in the opening game of the day Saturday against St. Cloud Technical & Community College. The Tigers rolled to a 12-2 win over Hibbing Community College in the nightcap at Pat Daugherty Field.
In Saturday's opener, freshman pitcher Elijah Wood (Washington, IA/Washington Community) limited the Cyclones to just one run through five innings of play, but the Tiger offense was held scoreless until Pedro Lopez (Naples, FL/Naples) doubled to lead off the bottom of the fifth and later scored on a Logan Holtz (Urbana, IA/Center Point-Urbana) single to center to tie the game at one.
The Cyclones jumped back ahead with two runs in the top of the sixth while the Tigers posted a zero in the frame. Relief pitcher Todd Oberthien (Solon, IA/Solon) kept the St. Cloud hitters in check after pitching a perfect seventh inning to give the Tigers a chance in their final at bat.
Anderson Villarroel (Caracas, Venezuela/U.E. Santisima Caridad) led off the inning with a walk and later scored on a Cyclone error. With two runners on and no outs, the Tigers failed to produce a run on back-to-back at bats. Thrasher came to the plate and smashed a double down the left field line, scoring Holtz and Bennett Lopez (Dorado, PR/PRBA) from first base to give the Tigers a win in dramatic fashion.
Thrasher, Pedro Lopez, and Holtz each collected two hits in the win while Oberthien earned his first-career victory.
Taking on Hibbing in second game of the day, the Tiger offense refused to repeat its sluggish start from earlier in the day. A bases loaded walk and a two run single from Brett Braida (Chariton, IA/Chariton) gave MCC an early 3-0 lead for starting pitcher JD Barr (South Sioux City, NE/Bishop Heelan Catholic)
Sacrifice flies from Trevor Swartz (Fremont, IA/Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont) and Villarroel in the fourth, along with a run from Colin Schroeder (Grimes, IA/Dallas Center-Grimes) doubled the Tigers' lead. Two runs from the Cardinals in the fifth cut into the edge, but MCC answered with five runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame. The Tigers took advantage of three errors in the inning along with a two-run single from Bennett Lopez. A double in the bottom of the sixth inning from Engel Rosario (Santo Domingo, DR/Cenapec) scored Braida to give MCC the 10-run victory.
Barr tossed four innings, allowing just two hits and one unearned run while Sage Sutherland (Sandy, UT/Murray) closed out the game, allowing one unearned run on no hits in two innings of work.
The Tigers have moved their road Sunday doubleheader against St. Cloud Technical back to Marshalltown. First pitch is set for 12:00 PM at Shawn Williams Field.
