Tullahoma, TN—Sophomore Tony Salato's (Knoxville, IA/Knoxville) two-run double in the top of the seventh capped another rally for the Marshalltown Community College baseball team as the Tigers dropped Motlow State Community College 7-6 in the series finale. MCC fell in Saturday's opener 11-1 to the Bucks.
After sweeping Friday afternoon's doubleheader from Motlow State with a total of 19 runs, the Tiger offense struggled to start the day on Saturday, collecting just one hit in game one. MCC fell behind 2-0 to open game two before trading the lead with the Bucks throughout the late innings. Down 6-4 entering the seventh, the Tigers loaded the bases and scored a run to pull within one before Salato drove a pitch to left center for the eventual game-winning hit.
The Tigers (5-3) have outscored their opponents 32-9 in the fifth inning or later this season. MCC has trailed in four of its five wins before coming back to earn the victory.
Game one opened up with the Bucks taking a 3-0 lead through two innings before erupting for six runs in the third and closed out the game with a pair of runs in the fourth in the run-rule shortened contest. Freshman Max McCay (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle) collected the only hit for MCC.
Motlow built a 2-0 lead in the first inning to begin game two before a bases loaded walk and a two out, two-run single from Luis Duran (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Centro de Estudio Espaillat) gave MCC its first lead of the game in the third. The Bucks regained the lead with two runs in the bottom half of the inning, but reliever Holt Hunziker (Milford, IA/Okoboji) silenced the opposition's bats with a scoreless 1.1 innings of work on the mound.
The Tiger rally began in the sixth with a pinch hit solo home run from freshman Sayvon Cowans (Wesley Chapel, FL/Freedom), his first-career long ball, to tie the game at four. Motlow State responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth to hold a 6-4 edge.
Joses Mieses (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Prepara), who was the relief pitcher in the sixth inning, came to bat with one out in the seventh and ripped a double to start the Tiger rally. After a walk, John Magnuson (Elk Run Heights, IA/Waterloo East) singled to load the bases. With two outs, Duran was hit by a pitch to bring in Mieses and cut the deficit in half, 6-5.
Salato's seventh hit of the weekend series, and his second double of the game proved to be the biggest knock of the weekend as Jalen Horton (Des Moines, IA/Hoover) and Magnuson came around to score for the 7-6 lead. Mieses controlled the Motlow offense in the bottom of the seventh to earn his first-career victory on the mound.
At the plate, Mieses finished the game 3-3 with two runs and a stolen bases. The freshman finished the weekend 6-6 at the plate with four runs and two stolen bases. Salato boasted a .500 batting average (7-14) at the plate with six RBI and six runs as the Tigers won the weekend series 3-1 against the Bucks.
MCC is off until Feb. 22 where the Tigers travel to North Carolina for a six-game road trip.
Final score from Tullahoma: @MCCTigers_BB drops its opening game of the day to @MotlowBaseball. Series finale at 2:30 PM pic.twitter.com/W4hDpmQdQg
— Marshalltown Tigers (@MCC_ATH) February 11, 2017
Final score from Tullahoma: Another comeback for @MCCTigers_BB! Tigers drop @MotlowBaseball after a three-run seventh to win the series pic.twitter.com/8VibjlW4Kh
— Marshalltown Tigers (@MCC_ATH) February 11, 2017
