Marshalltown, IA—Freshman pitcher Joel Lopez (Dorado, PR/Jose S. Alegria) tossed a gem in game one to give the Marshalltown Community College baseball team an 8-1 win over visiting St. Cloud Technical & Community College. MCC put together a seventh inning rally, but fell just short, 7-6 in the nightcap at Shawn Williams Field.
Lopez tossed six innings of four-hit ball, allowing just one earned run to pick up his first-career win as a Tiger.
The Cyclones scored the game's first run on back-to-back hits in the third, but Engel Rosario (Santo Domingo, DR/Cenapec) put MCC ahead for good with a two-run home run to deep left field in the fourth inning, scoring Hunter Embray (Knoxville, IA/Twin Cedars) for the 2-1 lead.
MCC put six consecutive runners on base in the sixth inning, and all came around to score to seal the victory. Pedro Lopez (Naples, FL/Naples) provided a two-run double to left field while Logan Holtz (Urbana, IA/Urbana Center-Point) plated two more runs with a double of his own.
Nolan Sinning (Clemons, IA/West Marshall) tossed a scoreless seventh inning to give the Tigers their third straight win. Holtz, Rosario, and Pedro Lopez each collected two hits and two RBI in the victory.
The Cyclones struck first once again in game two, this time a run in the top of the first with two outs off of starting pitcher Austin Gridley (Fairfield, IA/Fairfield). The freshman tossed back-to-back scoreless innings as MCC jumped ahead 2-1 thanks to sacrifice flies from Bennett Lopez (Dorado, PR/PRBA) and Embray in the third inning. MCC went ahead 3-1 with a sacrifice fly from Pedro Lopez in the fourth, scoring Ryan Thrasher (Sherwood Park, AB/St. Francis Xavier).
St. Cloud responded with two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings for a 5-3 lead, and extended the advantage to four with two more runs in the top of the seventh.
The Tigers, eager to keep their winning streak alive, put three straight batters on to start the final frame. Thrasher drove in Bennett Lopez with a sacrifice fly, the Tigers' fourth sacrifice of the game, to start the scoring. A bases-loaded hit by pitch to Embray, followed by a balk allowed Alexis Melendez (Trujillo Alto, PR/IBAHS) to score, and a single from Rosario drove in Embray to pull within one.
MCC loaded the bases once again, but a pop-out to end the game sank the Tigers in game two.
Anderson Villarroel (Caracas, Venezuela/U.E. Santisima Caridad) reached base four times, collecting two hits while Melendez and Rosario each collected two hits of their own in the final game of the weekend.
The Tigers return to action with a single nine-inning game at Southwestern Community College on Wednesday before returning home for a four-game Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) set against Muscatine Community College on Saturday and Sunday.
