Iowa Falls, IA—The Marshalltown Community College baseball team strung together a late game rally to sweep Ellsworth Community College on Wednesday afternoon to complete a three-game sweep. The Tigers defeated Ellsworth in game one, which had been suspended from last week, 16-14, and erased an eight-run deficit in game two to finish off the Panthers in an offensive showcase.
Pedro Lopez (Naples, FL/Naples) proved to be the central figure in the Tigers' offensive production in both games, reaching base all 10 times he came to the plate, recording six hits and four walks, scoring five runs and adding four RBI. Engel Rosario (Santo Domingo, DR/Cenapec) crushed a three-run home run late in game two to propel the Tigers to the comeback victory.
Jake Haynes (Hollister, MO/Hollister) picked up his first-career win after holding the Panthers hitless in two innings of work in game two. Todd Oberthien (Solon, IA/Solon) tossed three innings of relief in game one to earn the win while Thomas Sanchez (Onalaska, WI/Holmen) recorded a save in each game.
Game one began on April 14 as part of a doubleheader with the Panthers that saw the Tigers take the opener 6-5. The game made it through four innings of play before the contest was suspended due to the injury to an umpire.
The first three innings on April 14 saw both sides produce big innings at the plate. The Tigers struck first with five runs in the opening frame, highlighted by a three-run home run from Colin Schroeder (Grimes, IA/Grimes), his first-career longball. MCC added five runs in the second as Logan Holtz (Urbana, IA/Center Point-Urbana) hit a solo home run to center to start the scoring and Lopez ended the outburst with a two-run single. After one run in the first inning, the Panthers answered MCC's attack with five runs of their own in the second and added two more in the third to pull within one before the game was halted.
Fast forward to Wednesday afternoon and the offense continued for both teams. The Tigers were held scoreless in the fourth, but put up six runs in the fifth to take a marginal lead again. With the bases loaded, Alexis Melendez (Trujillo Alto, PR/IBAHS) cleared the bags with a double down the left field line. Lopez added an RBI-single and later scored on a single from Anderson Villarroel (Caracas, Venezuela/U.E. Santisima Caridad).
Oberthien began the day Wednesday on the mound in the fourth and held the Panthers scoreless through two innings. The Panthers scored two in the sixth and got to Oberthien in the seventh, scoring four runs before Sanchez entered and closed out the game with the bases loaded to end the marathon affair.
With the wind howling in Iowa Falls, the runs continued to pour in for each team in game two. Ellsworth took a commanding 10-2 lead over the Tigers through four innings of play. MCC got a run in the first after Bennett Lopez (Dorado, PR/PRBA) tripled and scored on a single from Melendez and added one more in the fourth as Pedro Lopez scored on a wild pitch, but MCC left the bases loaded.
The Tigers' turn to light up the scoreboard came in the fifth inning as MCC plated three runs. Casey Dorhout (Sanborn, IA/Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn) collected his first-career hit, a two-run single and Villarroel added an RBI-single to cut Ellsworth's lead to five.
MCC used an array of hits in the sixth inning to continue the onslaught, putting six runs on the board in the frame. After back-to-back batters reached base to start the inning, Rosario sent a pitch off of the shed in right field to bring MCC within one, scoring Melendez and Haynes for his first-career score. Holtz doubled to deep centerfield to tie the game at 10 and Dorhout scored what proved to be the winning run on a balk. Pedro Lopez added an insurance run in the seventh, scoring on a double from Schroeder. Sanchez took the hill to start the seventh, and after a leadoff walk, sat three straight Panthers down to end the game to give the Tigers the sweep.
Holtz, Melendez, Rosario, and Schroeder all had two hits apiece in the game two win for the Tigers. Along with Pedro Lopez's six hits between the two games, Melendez added six hits, four runs, and four RBI as well.
The Tigers return to Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) action this weekend with a four-game set at home against Iowa Western Community College. The series was originally scheduled for a Saturday start, but has been pushed back to a Sunday/Monday series.
