Creston, IA—After digging themselves into a 5-0 hole after two innings of play, the Marshalltown Community College baseball team put up a pair of four run innings to rally for an 8-7 win over Southwestern Community College at Spartan Field on Thursday afternoon. Thomas Sanchez (Onalaska, WI/Holmen) earned his first-career win.
Sanchez tossed 2.1 innings of relief, limiting the Spartan offense to just two hits and no runs while the Tiger offense came alive. Todd Oberthien (Solon, IA/Solon) recorded his second-career save.
Pedro Lopez (Naples, FL/Naples) and Trevor Swartz (Fremont, IA/Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont) paced the MCC offense with a pair of hits and two RBI on the day.
Southwestern put up two runs in the first inning off of Tiger starter Colton Blackford (Des Moines, IA/Hoover). The Spartans added three more in the second to take the early 5-0 lead.
The Tigers finally provided Blackford with some aid in the third inning, scoring four runs to pull within one. Engel Rosario (Santo Domingo, DR/Cenapec) recorded a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to open up the scoring as Logan Holtz (Urbana, IA/Center Point-Urbana) was the first to cross the plate. Lopez provided the big hit of the inning, a two-run single to score Ryan Thrasher (Sherwood Park, AB/St. Francis Xavier) and Bryan Ventura (Carolina, PR/Next Level America).
With the Spartans ahead by one, Blackford settled down, allowing just one baserunner over the next two innings. Southwestern got one run off of the southpaw in the fifth before Sanchez took over on the hill. Sanchez left two runners on base to end the fifth with MCC trailing 6-4.
The top of the sixth proved to be another big inning for the Tigers as MCC took their first lead of the afternoon. After Colin Schroeder (Grimes, IA/Dallas Center-Grimes) reached on a leadoff error, Holtz tripled to deep right-centerfield to pull the Tigers within one. An RBI-single from Bennett Lopez (Dorado, PR/PRBA), a sacrifice fly from Ventura, and an RBI-single from Swartz gave the Tigers an 8-6 edge.
Sanchez allowed one hit in the sixth before striking out three batters in the seventh to preserve the Tiger lead. Southwestern scored one unearned run off of relief pitcher Kolton Gonnerman (Centerville, IA/Centerville) in the eighth to pull back within one, but Oberthien sat the Spartans down in order in the ninth to give the Tigers their second win over Southwestern this season.
Sanchez, who has appeared in five games in relief for the Tigers this year, lowered his earned run average to 0.96 on the season.
The Tigers return to Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) play this weekend with a four-game home series with Indian Hills Community College. First pitch is set for 1:00 PM on Saturday.
