Freshman Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Republic/Liceo la Romana) has been named the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) Division I Baseball Pitcher of the Week after not allowing a run in three appearances last week. Ceballos becomes the third different Tiger pitcher to be honored this year.
Primarily a position player over the first two months of the season, Ceballos made his first-career start and his first appearance on the mound since Feb. 26 with a five inning shutout against Kirkwood Community College on Tuesday afternoon. The freshman carved up the Eagle hitters, allowing just four hits while striking out five batters to earn his first-career victory, an 11-0 win.
Ceballos played the role of closer over the weekend during a four-game series against Iowa Community College athletic Conference (ICCAC) foe Indian Hills Community College. The freshman appeared in both games of Sunday's doubleheader, earning a save in each contest.
In the opener on Sunday, the Tigers went extra innings with the Falcons. After MCC took a 1-0 lead in the ninth inning, Ceballos came in with one out in the final frame and shut down the Falcons to earn his first-career save. The freshman entered in game two with MCC once again clinging to a 1-0 lead and tossed a scoreless seventh inning for his second save of the day.
To boost his performance over the week, Ceballos also added a 3-5 performance at the plate against Kirkwood with three runs and three RBI. Ceballos added an RBI-double in a 5-2 win against Indian Hills on Saturday.
The Tigers have now earned four of the seven ICCAC Pitcher of the Week honors this season with Kolton Gonnerman (Centerville, IA/Centerville) garnering two weekly accolades and freshman Juan Carlos Gonzalez (Piedra Blanca, Dominican Republic/Salome Urena de Henrriquez) earned the honor two weeks ago.
MCC returns to action at home with a nonconference doubleheader against Kirkwood on Thursday afternoon. The Tigers have won all three games against the Eagles this year by a combined score of 36-10.
