Marshalltown, IA—The Marshalltown Community College Baseball team completed its four-game season sweep of Southwestern Community College with a pair of convincing wins at Shawn Williams Field on Tuesday afternoon. The Tigers won game one 13-9 before shutting out the Spartans 8-0 in game two.
The Tigers pounded out 10 hits in each game as MCC improved to 4-0 on the year against the Spartans. Seven of the team's 20 hits on the day cleared the fence as seven different players connected on home runs.
After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first, Bennett Lopez (Dorado, PR/PRBA) hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to tie the game. The Tigers took advantage of three Spartan balks in the first inning to take a 5-2 lead. Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Republic/Liceo la Romana) added a solo home run in the third.
Leading 8-2, Southwestern rallied for five runs in the fifth, but the home run parade continued for the Tigers in the bottom half of the frame as Hunter Embray (Knoxville, IA/Twin Cedars) added his fourth-career home run and freshman Christian Jaworski (Bloomfield Hills, MI/Bloomfield Hills) added his first long-ball of the year. Leading 13-9 in the top of the seventh with two runners on, JD Barr (South Sioux City, NE/Bishop Heelan Catholic) took the mound and sat the Spartans down in order to earn his second save of the season.
All nine batters that came to the plate had a hit for MCC while eight different batters recorded a walk for the patient Tigers in game one. Freshman Noel Diaz (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/CENAPEC) went 4.1 innings on the mound to earn his fourth win of the season. Austin Gridley (Fairfield, IA/Fairfield) struck out three batters in 1.2 innings of relief.
The offense in game two continued for the Tigers while the MCC pitching staff cooled off the Spartans. Freshman Juan Carlos Gonzalez (Piedra Blanca, Dominican Republic/Salome Urena de Henrriquez) went six strong, allowing just three hits while sophomore Trevor Swartz (Fremont, IA/Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont) tossed a scoreless seventh to complete the shutout.
MCC took a 3-0 lead in the second inning of game two thanks to a two-run double from Joel Rosauer (Elk Run Heights, IA/Waterloo East). The Tigers poured it on in the sixth inning with three home runs. Rosauer and freshman Kaleb Hanks (Sioux City, IA/Sioux City East) went back-to-back with one out and Enmaunel Lopez (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Prepara) sent a two-out pitch over the left field wall for a two-run shot.
Enmanuel Lopez went 3-4 at the plate for MCC. Rosauer, Hanks, and Logan Holtz (Urbana, IA/Center Point-Urbana) all added two hits in the win.
MCC opens Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) play this weekend with a four-game set at Muscatine Community College on Saturday and Sunday.
