Jamestown, NC—The Marshalltown Community College Baseball team produced five home runs between two games on Saturday, but the offensive power was not enough as the Tigers dropped a pair of games to Guilford Technical Community College. MCC fell 11-10 in game one and dropped game two 9-5.
The Tigers held a two run advantage heading to the bottom of the seventh inning of game one, but an error and five walks, including a walk-off walk, led to the initial defeat despite reaching double digits in the scoring column for the third time this season. The offense slowed in game two as the Tigers committed three errors to drop both games to the Titans.
Five different players- Bennett Lopez (Dorado, Puerto Rico/PRBA), Logan Holtz (Urbana, IA/Center Point Urbana), Enmanuel Lopez (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Prepara), Hunter Embray (Knoxville, IA/Twin Cedars), and Engel Rosario (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/CENAPEC) all recorded two hits in the opening game loss. Both Embray and Rosario connected on home runs for the Tigers. Rosario has now homered in three of the team's six games to start the season.
Elijah Wood (Washington, IA/Washington Community) struck out five batters in four innings of work in game one. Sophomores Colton Blackford (Des Moines, IA/Hoover) and Trevor Swartz (Fremont, IA/Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont) helped the Tigers get out of a jam in the sixth inning, but the Titans took advantage of untimely walks from the Tigers in the seventh. Freshman Rafael Puente (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Liceo Argentina Mateo Lara) allowed five walks in the final frame to pick up the loss.
Game two began with a two out home run from Holtz, the sophomore's second long ball in as many days for the Tigers. The solo shot was the only run production from the Tigers until the fifth inning as Guilford Tech built a 7-1 lead.
Ventura and Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Republic/Liceo la Romana) each added home runs for the Tigers, but the Titans' lead was too much for the Tigers to overcome in the final innings as MCC fell to 3-3 on the year.
Freshman Juan Carlos Gonzalez (Piedra Blanca, Dominican Republic/Salome Urena de Henriquez) earned the loss for the Tigers despite striking out six batters in four innings. Freshman JJ Stephens (Sioux City, IA/Sioux City East) tossed two innings of relief for the Tigers, allowing just two hits.
The two teams conclude their four-game set with a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon.
