Centerville, IA—Sophomore Kolton Gonnerman (Centerville, IA/Centerville) hurled a complete-game, allowing just four hits as the Marshalltown Community College Baseball team defeated Indian Hills Community College 5-2 in Saturday's conference doubleheader opener. The Tigers fell in game two 6-2.
MCC and Indian Hills evened their records at 5-5 in Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) play with the split on Saturday. The two teams will square off in a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at 12:00 PM at Pat Daugherty Field.
Pitching in his hometown for the second-time in his MCC career, Gonnerman allowed just two earned runs, both coming in the second inning, as the Tigers rallied to give Gonnerman his sixth-straight victory to start the year. The freshman struck out six batters in the win.
Trailing 2-0 after two innings, the Tigers got on the board in the third inning to cut the deficit in half. Bennett Lopez (Dorado, Puerto Rico/PRBA) walked and later scored on a wild pitch. The offense broke the game open with a four-run fifth to support Gonnerman. A sacrifice fly from Bryan Ventura (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Continental) scored Christian Jaworski (Bloomfield Hills, MI/Bloomfield Hills). Kaleb Hanks (Sioux City, IA/Sioux City East), Bennett Lopez and Enmanuel Lopez (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Prepara) all singled and scored in the inning to put the Tigers on top 5-2.
Gonnerman retired the final eight batters of the game for his second complete game conference victory of the season.
The offense stalled in game two as the Tigers managed just two runs in the final inning, a two-run home run from Hunter Embray (Knoxville, IA/Twin Cedars). The home run was Embray's fifth of the season and gives the Tigers 36 up to this point which ranks first in the ICCAC.
Ventura was the lone Tiger to have two hits in the game as the sophomore upped his batting average to .321 on the year.
