Marshalltown, IA- An extra-inning home run from Indian Hills Community College led to a Saturday sweep for the Falcons over the Marshalltown Community College baseball team at Shawn Williams Field. Indian Hills took game one 7-6 before dropping MCC 14-0 in the nightcap.
The Tigers (10-15, 3-3) built a 6-0 lead over the Falcons (16-12, 4-2) in the opener only to see their opponent mount a late-game rally. Four runs in the top of the sixth from Indian Hills, along with four straight scoreless frames from the Tigers, forced extra innings.
After both sides traded zeroes in the eighth, Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) home run leader Mitch Langer sent a ball over the left field wall to put the Falcons ahead by a run. MCC stranded two runners in scoring position to close out the game.
It was all Indian Hills in game two as the Falcons scored three in the first inning alone. Indian Hills scored at least one run in each inning, including six in the fourth to complete the sweep in five innings.
Anderson Villarroel (Caracas, VZ/U.E. Santisima Caridad) went 3-4 in the opener, scoring two runs and adding two RBI. Villarroel scored the game's first run in the first inning, and MCC added three more in the second on a three-run single to right field from Alexis Melendez (Trujillo Alto, PR/IBAHS). The Tigers added two more in the third as Villarroel singled to right, scoring Hunter Embray (Knoxville, IA/Twin Cedars) and Bryan Ventura (Carolina, PR/Next Level America).
The Tiger bats went cold the remainder of the game. A leadoff error to start the ninth for MCC, along with a second error put runners on second and third for the Tigers with two outs but were unable to bring the tying run to the plate.
Along with Villarroel's three hits, Melendez collected two knocks in the game.
Game one starting pitcher Elijah Wood (Washington, IA/Washington Community) pitched 5.1 innings, holding the Falcons to just two base runners until the Indian Hills scoring began in the fourth. Wood struck out five batters in the no decision.
Todd Oberthien (Solon, IA/Solon) took the loss in game one while Wyatt Stark (Mt. Pleasant, IA/Fairfield) suffered his second loss of the year in game two.
Both teams return to action with a conference doubleheader set to begin at 12:00 PM tomorrow afternoon at Shawn Williams Field.
