Muscatine, IA— Freshman Logan Holtz (Urbana, IA/Center Point-Urbana) pounded out four hits on Saturday afternoon as the Marshalltown Community College baseball team split a pair of Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) contests at Muscatine Community College. The Tigers took game one 4-3 in eight innings before dropping game two, 6-4.
After going 3-4 with a home run in game one, Holtz added a base hit in game two to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Dating back to the start of the streak on April 4, Holtz is batting .436 (17-39), including six extra base hits and nine runs scored.
The Tigers (13-22, 4-10) opened up game one with a run in the top of the second for the initial lead as Pedro Lopez (Naples, FL/Naples) produced a sacrifice fly to score Hunter Embray (Knoxville, IA/Twin Cedars). After a run from the Cardinals in the bottom half of the second tied the game at one, Holtz connected on his fourth career home run and his second in as many games to put MCC back on top. Embray extended the lead to 3-1 with an RBI-single to score Bennett Lopez (Dorado, PR/PRBA).
Muscatine (16-15, 4-10) was able to cut the deficit in half with a run in the second. MCC starting pitcher Austin Gridley (Fairfield, IA/Fairfield) held the Cardinals scoreless through the next three frames as the freshman struck out seven batters along the way.
The Cardinals forced extra innings with a run in the bottom of the seventh. Holtz carried the Tigers to the win in the eighth after reaching base on an error and scoring an RBI-single from Bennett Lopez. Jorge Michael (Caracas, Venezuela/Claret) shut the opposition down in the bottom half to earn his second-career win.
The MCC offense continued to thrive at the plate in game two, collecting 14 hits, however, the Tigers stranded nine runners, including eight in scoring position.
Engel Rosario (Santo Domingo, DR/Cenapec) sent a 3-1 pitch over the left field wall in the second inning to open the scoring for the Tigers. A four-run fourth from the Cardinals put Muscatine up 4-1. RBI singles from Rosario and Ryan Thrasher (Sherwood Park, AB/St. Francis Xavier) in the top of the fifth pulled MCC within one, but the Cardinals added two more in the bottom half to regain a three-run edge.
Back-to-back singles to start the seventh inning gave the Tigers life. Embray was able to score on a passed ball to make it 6-4, but the Cardinals retired three straight MCC batters to close out the game.
Bennett Lopez and Rosario each went 3-4 in game two while Alexis Melendez (Trujillo Alto, PR/IBAHS), Embray, and Gridley all added two hits apiece in the loss.
The two teams resume conference play tomorrow afternoon with a doubleheader set to begin at 12:00 PM.
