Centerville, IA—The Marshalltown Community College Baseball team scored just two runs on the day, but the Tiger pitching staff shut down Indian Hills Community College to sweep the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) doubleheader on the road Sunday. MCC won both games 1-0, including an extra inning affair in the opener.
MCC completed the weekend having won three of four contests against the Falcons and improved to 7-5 in ICCAC play this year to remain in second place in the league. The Tigers are now 24-12 overall on the year.
The Tiger hurlers limited the Falcons to just nine total hits on the day without allowing a run. JD Barr (South Sioux City, NE/Bishop Heelan Catholic) earned the win in game one after tossing two scoreless innings of relief while freshman Juan Carlos Gonzalez (Piedra Blanca, Dominican Republic/Salome Urena de Henrriquez) shut the opposition down through six innings to improve to 6-2 on the year. Freshman Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Republic/Liceo la Romana) earned the save in both games for the Tigers.
The Tigers secured their first three-win regular season against the Falcons since 2011 with four games still to play in the 2016 campaign.
Neither side provided much offense on the day as the two teams went scoreless through the first eight innings of play in game one. Freshman Noel Diaz (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/CENAPEC) kept the Falcon hitters in check, allowing just three hits in 6.1 innings of work while striking out six batters. Barr took over in the seventh and continued to baffle the Falcons. Barr struck out the side in the eighth to give the Tigers a chance in the ninth.
Freshman Kaleb Hanks (Sioux City, IA/Sioux City East) entered the game in the ninth and singled on a bunt base hit to get on. With two outs, freshman Joel Rosauer (Elk Run Heights, IA/Waterloo East) singled to the outfield to score Hanks for the game's first and only run. Ceballos got the final two batters of the game to strikeout and fly out to give MCC the victory.
Rosauer finished the game 2-4 at the plate for the team's only multi-hit player. The MCC pitching staff struck out 11 batters while issuing just two walks in the win.
Sunday's nightcap proved to be another pitcher's duel, but the Tigers managed to strike early. Freshman Luis Duran (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Centro de Estudio Espaillat) delivered his third-career home run to lead off the second inning for the early lead.
Gonzalez was in trouble early, allowing three baserunners in the first inning, but settled down the rest of the way. The freshman allowed just five baserunners over his final five innings of work to keep the Falcons off the board.
Ceballos came in to close out the game in the seventh and induced a game-ending double play to end the contest. Gonzalez struck out four batters in the win.
The Tigers entertain Iowa Central Community College for a single nine-inning nonconference contest on April 19 at 2:00 at Shawn Williams Field.
