Wentworth, NC—Four different pitchers combined to strike out 17 batters to lead the Marshalltown Community College baseball team to a season-opening 5-2 win at Rockingham Community College on Wednesday. Bryan Ventura (Carolina, PR/Next Level America) paced the offense, going 3-4 in his MCC debut.
Corey Ceponis (Chicago, IL/Curie) got the start for the Tigers, making his first appearance on the mound since going 7-0 as a freshman in 2013. Ceponis showed signs of his rookie campaign where he led the conference in strikeouts as the left hander struck out two batters in the first inning and four in the first two.
The Tigers reached the scoreboard first as sophomore Anderson Villarroel (Caracas, Venezuela/U.E. Santisima Caridad) reached on a fielder's choice to score Ventura who led off the inning with a double to deep left centerfield. Bennett Lopez (Dorado, PR/PRBA) scored Villarroel later in the inning to double the lead. Engel Rosario (Santo Domingo, DR/Cenapec) provided a highlight-reel home run in the third inning, sending a shot to deep left field for a 3-0 lead.
After three innings of work from Ceponis, freshman Joel Lopez (Dorado, PR/Jose S. Alegria) took the hill, striking out five batters in his first 2.1 innings of action. Leading 3-1 in the top of the fifth, Ventura smacked a single down the left field line to score Ryan Thrasher (Sherwood Park, AB/St. Francis Xavier) and Pedro Lopez (Naples, FL/Naples).
Kolton Gonnerman (Centerville, IA/Centerville) relieved Lopez with one out in the sixth and tossed the next 2.2 innings. The freshman struck out six batters and allowed just one hitter to reach base on an error to earn his first career win. Todd Oberthien (Solon, IA/Solon) struck out two batters in the ninth to earn the save.
Three different players, Hunter Embray (Knoxville, IA/Twin Cedars), Colin Schroeder (Grimes, IA/Dallas Center-Grimes), and Villarroel all executed sacrifice bunts in the win.
The Tigers are scheduled to play a doubleheader at Surry Community College on Thursday, weather pending.
