Marshalltown, IA—The Marshalltown Community College Baseball offense continued to thrive at the plate as the Tigers pounded out 16 hits en route to a 14-4 win over Ellsworth Community College at Shawn Williams Field on Tuesday afternoon. The Tigers have now won their last three games by a score of 34-7.
Tuesday's game marked the third consecutive contest that the Tigers recorded at least 10 runs and 13 hits. MCC collected 16 hits over the Panthers, including a 4-5 performance from Enmanuel Lopez (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Prepara). Logan Holtz (Urbana, IA/Center-Point Urbana) was a home run shy of the cycle after going 3-5. Bennett Lopez (Dorado, PR/PRBA), Luis Duran (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Centro de Estudio Espaillat), and Joel Rosauer (Elk Run Heights, IA/Waterloo East) also had two hits in the win.
Noel Diaz (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/CENAPEC) went 5.2 innings on the mound to earn his third win of the year, striking out six batters along the way. Freshman Juan Carlos Gonzalez (Piedra Blanca, Dominican Republic/Salome Urena de Henrriquez) tossed 2.1 innings of relief in the run-rule shortened contest for the Tigers.
Two days after scoring 10 runs in each game of a sweep against Southwestern Community College, the MCC bats stayed hot as the Tigers scored four runs in the opening frame on Tuesday. Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Republic/Liceo la Romana) connected on a three-run home run over the left-center fence for the early spark.
Holtz delivered a two-run triple in the fifth inning, scoring Enmanuel Lopez and Duran. Hunter Embray's (Knoxville, IA/Twin Cedars) sacrifice fly scored Holtz to put MCC up 7-1.
Ellsworth pulled the game within 8-4 in the top of the seventh, but Christian Jaworski (Bloomfield Hills, MI/Bloomfield Hils) RBI-single and a two-run double from Bennett Lopez put the game out of reach. Rosauer capped off the game with a two-run double in the eighth, ending the game early for the Tigers.
With his four hits, Enmanuel Lopez upped his batting average to an Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC)-best .500 on the year. As a team, the Tigers rank second in the league with a .343 batting average.
The Tigers welcome a week-long break to their schedule and will resume play against North Iowa Area Community College on March 29 at 3:00 PM.
