Wentworth, NC—A five-run eighth inning powered the Marshalltown Community College baseball team to a late rally, but the Tigers fell 10-9 in extra innings to Rockingham Community College on Wednesday afternoon. The Tigers drop to 5-4 on the year.
Sophomore Enmanuel Lopez (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Prepara) went 3-6 at the plate with a pair of RBI, including the game-tying RBI in the top of the ninth inning. Kaleb Hanks (Sioux City, IA/Sioux City East) went 3-4 and reached base four times while scoring three runs. As a team, the Tigers outhit Rockingham 14-9.
Originally scheduled for a doubleheader with the Eagles, Wednesday's game was switched to a single nine-inning contest due to weather. Cole Baker (Grimes, IA/Dallas Center-Grimes) got the start on the mound and both team's traded scoreless innings in the first two frames. MCC's first hit came from the bat of Carter Eldridge (West Des Moines, IA/Waukee) in the third. After Hanks drew a hit by pitch, Jalen Horton (Des Moines, IA/Hoover) and John Magnuson (Elk Run Heights, IA/Waterloo East) delivered back-to-back RBI-singles for a 2-0 lead in the third.
The Eagles responded with eight runs in the bottom half of the inning, forcing MCC to go to its bullpen. JJ Stephens (Sioux City, IA/South Sioux City) took over on the mound with one out in the third, and after allowing two hits, kept the Eagles off the board for the next five innings. Stephens retired 12 straight batters at one point and allowed just one baserunner on an error after the third inning.
Despite Stephens' performance, the Tiger offense stranded eight runners between the fourth and seventh innings. Trailing 8-2 entering the eighth, the bats woke up for the Tigers as Hanks got the rally going with a one out single. Lopez and Luis Duran (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Centro de Estudio Espaillat) delivered RBI-singles while Tony Salato (Knoxvile, IA/Knoxville) and Joel Rosauer (Elk Run Heights, IA/Waterloo East) earned bases loaded walks. A sacrifice fly from Jose Mieses (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Prepara) scored Duran to pull MCC within one.
After a scoreless eighth from Stephens, Hanks sparked the offense once again with a leadoff single to start the ninth. The sophomore came around to score on Lopez's single to center, tying the game at nine. The Tigers used a pair of relievers- Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Republic/Liceo la Romana) and Juan Carlos Gonzalez (Piedra Blanca, Dominican Republic/Salome Urena de Henrriquez) to toss a scoreless ninth to force extra innings.
The Tigers failed to produce a baserunner in the top of the 10th, allowing the Eagles a chance to ruin the Tiger rally. With two outs and a runner on second, Rockingham delivered a walk-off hit to hand MCC its third loss in the final at bat of the season.
Despite the loss, the Tigers continued to thrive in late innings and have now outscored their opponent 38-10 in the fifth inning or later this year.
Magnuson, Duran, and Eldridge collected two hits each in the loss for the Tigers while Mieses drove in a pair of runs.
The Tigers travel to Guilford Technical Community College for a four-game series on Saturday and Sunday.
