Marshalltown, IA—Sophomore Hunter Embray (Knoxville, IA/Twin Cedars) sent a shot over the left field fence for a three-run home run to propel the Marshalltown Community College Baseball team past Muscatine Community College on Sunday, salvaging a split with the Cardinals. MCC took game two 5-4 after falling in game one 3-2.
On the verge of dropping its fourth game of the weekend to the Cardinals, Embray's home run in the fourth inning put the Tigers ahead 4-3. MCC tacked on another run in the fifth that proved to be the game-winner as the Tigers improved to 25-16 overall and 8-8 in Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) play. The Cardinals fell to 20-22 overall and 5-11 in league action.
Freshman Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Republic/Liceo la Romana), this week's NJCAA Division I Pitcher of the Week, struck out a career-high nine batters to earn the win in game two while JD Barr (South Sioux City, NE/Bishop Heelan Catholic) pitched a perfect seventh inning for his league-leading fourth save of the season.
Sophomore Logan Holtz (Urbana, IA/Center Point-Urbana) picked up a pair of hits on the day, including a first inning single in game one to give him 100 hits in his two-year career at MCC. Holtz joined fellow sophomore Bennett Lopez (Dorado, Puerto Rico/PRBA) to eclipse the milestone this season as Lopez has 108 career knocks.
The Cardinals began the day with a run in the top of the first inning of game one, but freshman Tony Salato (Knoxville, IA/Knoxville) erased the deficit with a solo home run to start the second, his first-career long ball. Embray later scored on a double from Joel Rosauer (Elk Run Heights, IA/Waterloo East) in the frame to put the Tigers on top 2-1.
Starting pitcher Noel Diaz (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/CENAPEC) held the Cardinals scoreless until a solo home run in the fourth tied the game. Muscatine jumped ahead 3-2 with another run in the fifth.
Down to their final at bat, the Tigers had a chance to tie the game up in the seventh inning. Bryan Ventura (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Continental) drew a one out walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. Lopez then delivered a deep fly ball to the warning track in centerfield and Ventura used his speed to try and score all the way from second, but was tagged out on a close play at the plate.
Diaz struck out six batters in the loss while Ceballos added a pair of hits for the Tigers.
Muscatine held the early lead in game two, jumping out to a 3-0 advantage through three innings until the Tiger offense finally woke up in the fourth. Ceballos roped a double to center and scored on a Luis Duran (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Centro de Estudio Espaillat) single. With two runners on, Embray drove his sixth home run of the season to give MCC the lead.
Salato opened the fifth inning with a bunt single and later scored on a Muscatine throwing error. The Cardinals pulled within one in the sixth, but Barr faced just three batters to close the door in the seventh.
Next up for the Tigers is a trip to Iowa Central Community College for a single nine inning game at 2:00 PM on April 26.
