A big offensive week for the Marshalltown Community College baseball team was powered by sophomore Enmanuel Lopez (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Prepara) who has been named this week's Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) Division I Player of the Week.
The Tigers went just 2-3 on their North Carolina road trip, but the offense was in full gear, averaging 9.0 runs per game. Of the 45 runs scored on the week, Lopez scored or drove in 13 of them. Lopez boasted a .435 batting average (10-23) with six extra base hits, eight RBI, and seven runs scored.
In the team's opener on Wednesday afternoon, Lopez went 3-6 with two RBI in an 11-10 loss to Rockingham Community College.
Saturday marked the opening doubleheader of a weekend series with Guilford Technical Community College, and Lopez continued to thrive at the plate. The sophomore delivered a game-tying home run in the seventh inning of game one and came up with the save on the mound in the bottom half of the inning to give MCC a 13-12 victory. Lopez went 2-4 with two doubles and two RBI in a 9-6 win in game two.
The Tigers dropped both game's Sunday in the series finale, but Lopez went 4-8 on the afternoon with three doubles and a home run while scoring four runs.
Lopez is batting .429 on the year with a .929 slugging percentage. Lopez is tied for fifth in the nation with nine doubles and is tied for seventh with 13 extra base hits. The sophomore also leads the ICCAC with four home runs.
Lopez joins fellow sophomores Luis Duran ((Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Centro de Estudio Espaillat), Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Republic/Liceo la Romana), and Tony Salato (Knoxville, IA/Knoxville) to earn weekly honors this year.
The Tigers return to action March 11 for a four-game series at Crowder College.
