Centerville, IA—Freshman pitcher Joel Lopez (Dorado, PR/Jose S. Alegria) looked like the southpaw that won back-to-back Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) Division I Pitcher of the Week honors earlier this year on Sunday, tossing a one-hit, complete game shutout against Indian Hills Community College to lock up the No. 3 seed in the upcoming NJCAA Division I Region XI Tournament. The Tigers won Sunday's opener 2-0 before falling in game two 13-3.
After splitting Saturday's twin-bill with the Falcons, one win was all the Tigers needed to jump ahead of Muscatine Community College in the conference standings following Iowa Western Community College's four-game sweep of the Cardinals over the weekend. Lopez, who struggled in his previous appearance against Indian Hills, was dominant from start to finish in game one for MCC, allowing just one baserunner, a lone single in the fourth inning.
Lopez pitched in back-to-back wins in late March to garner league honors, but allowed at least three runs in his last four starts, including nine runs against Indian Hills on April 5. Lopez struck out two batters on Sunday and needed just 84 pitchers.
While a freshman carried the Tigers on the mound, a pair of rookies provided the run support at the plate. Freshman Bryan Ventura (Carolina, PR/Next Level America) drilled a solo home run in the top of the third for the game's first run. Freshman Engel Rosario (Santo Domingo, DR/Cenapac) followed up with a double in the fourth inning to score Pedro Lopez (Naples, FL/Naples). The two runs proved to be all the support Lopez needed as MCC wrapped up the No. 3 seed.
Game two belonged to the Falcons right off the bat as Indian Hills built a 3-0 lead in the first inning. The Tigers responded with three runs in the second, all coming with two outs, after taking advantage of a pair of errors from the Falcons. The three runs were all MCC could put together as Indian Hills pulled away with four runs in the bottom of the second.
The two teams will face each other once again this weekend to open up the Region XI Tournament as Indian Hills earned the No. 2 seed. The tournament begins Friday afternoon in Muscatine, IA with Iowa Western as the top seed and Muscatine the No. 4 seed.
Times for all tournament games will be made available once released by the conference.
