Council Bluffs, IA—The Marshalltown Community College baseball team opened its' Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) weekend series against Iowa Western Community College with a pair of losses on Friday afternoon, falling 12-2 in the opener and 8-0 in game two. The Tigers managed just seven hits on the day.
Originally scheduled for a Saturday start, the four-game set was moved up to a Friday first pitch due to impending weather. The MCC offense showed signs of life right away in game one as Anderson Villarroel (U.E. Santisima Caridad) and Logan Holtz (Urbana, IA/Center Point-Urbana) led off with back-to-back singles. A walk to Hunter Embray (Knoxville, IA/Twin Cedars) loaded the bases, but the Tigers left all three stranded to end the frame.
The Reivers (25-5, 8-2), ranked No. 6 in the latest NJCAA Division I rankings, built off of the defensive stop and scored two runs off of MCC starting pitcher Elijah Wood (Washington, IA/Washington Community) in the first inning. Two straight scoreless frames from the Tigers allowed Iowa Western to maintain the lead, but expanded the edge with a five-run third and added five more in the fourth to take a 12-0 lead.
MCC got on the board in the fifth inning on a two-run single from Alexis Melendez (Trujillo Alto, PR/IBAHS), scoring Villarroel and Holtz who led off the inning with a single and a double, respectively. The two runs were all the Tigers could produce as the game ended in five innings.
Villarroel again sparked the Tiger offense to start game two, leading off with another base hit. However, the Reiver pitching staff shut down the Tigers from there on out, retiring the next 16 batters in a row to close the door.
The Reivers scored four runs in the first before adding two in the second. Solo home runs from Iowa Western in both the third and fifth inning led to the 8-0 victory for the first-place Reivers.
Villarroel and Holtz combined for six of the Tigers' seven hits on the day. Two of Holtz's three hits were doubles. Over the last six games, Villarroel is batting .550 (11-21) with seven runs scored to pace the Tiger offense.
Joel Lopez (Dorado, PR/Jose S. Alegria) took the loss on the mound, pitching 4.2 innings. Jorge Michael (Caracas, Venezuela/Claret) relieved Lopez and retired all four batters he faced.
The two teams resume play tomorrow afternoon at Doc Ross Field for a 1:00 PM start.
