Marshalltown, IA—Shawn Williams Field saw plenty of offense on Saturday afternoon, but the Marshalltown Community College Baseball team came up short in both games as Muscatine Community College took a pair of come-from-behind wins vs. the Tigers. The Cardinals took game one 13-8 and used a late home run to take game two, 11-9.
The Tigers recorded 23 hits in the slugfest on Saturday to go along with the 17 runs, but the Cardinals outhit the home team with 26 hits, including eight home runs in the afternoon affair. Sophomore Bennett Lopez (Dorado, Puerto Rico/PRBA) led the way with five hits, including three in the first game. Joel Rosauer (Elk Run Heights, IA/Waterloo East) and Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Republic/Liceo la Romana) each added four hits on the afternoon.
The Tigers fall to 24-15 overall and 7-7 in Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) play while the Cardinals improve to 19-21 overall and 4-10 in the league. MCC sits two games ahead of third-place Indian Hills Community College (15-24/5-9) after dropping a pair of games to first-place Iowa Western Community College (35-10/12-2) on Saturday.
The Tigers staked an early lead in game one against Muscatine, scoring a pair of runs in each of the first two innings. Rosauer delivered a two-run single in the second, scoring Tony Salato (Knoxville, IA/Knoxville) and Bryan Ventura (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Continental) for the 4-0 lead.
The two teams traded runs in the third after Ceballos sent a shot over the left field fence for his sixth home run of the year. Rosauer and Enmanuel Lopez (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Prepara) both scored in the fourth to take a 7-1 MCC lead.
The Muscatine bats woke up in the fifth inning, scoring five runs and added four more in the sixth before tacking on three in the seventh. Ventura scored on an RBI-single from Rosauer in the fifth but the Tigers failed to erase the marginal deficit.
MCC opened up game two with another early lead, scoring three runs in the first and brought in four more in the second as Enmanuel Lopez delivered his team-leading eighth home run over the scoreboard in left field. Ceballos added a two-run single in the frame for a 7-3 lead.
The Cardinals tied the game up with four runs in the third, but Salato scored in the bottom half on a two out double from Rosauer to regain the lead. Muscatine once again fought back to tie the game in the fourth, only to see the Tigers score in the fifth on an RBI-single from Bennett Lopez.
After a solo home run in the sixth from the Cardinals, the Tigers went to the bullpen to relieve starting pitcher Elijah Wood (Washington, IA/Washington Community) to start the seventh. With one out, Muscatine produced its final blow of the day, a two-run home run that proved to be the game winner.
Wood struck out eight batters in the no decision. Game one starting pitcher Kolton Gonnerman (Centerville, IA/Centerville) was also dealt a no decision after striking out four batters in 4.2 innings of work.
Bennett Lopez reached base a total of seven times on the day, adding two walks with the five hits, his 15th multi-hit game of the year. With eight hits in his last three games, the sophomore has eclipsed 100 hits for his career at MCC.
The two teams complete their four-game series with a doubleheader Sunday afternoon at 12:00 PM.
