Infographic Region XI Tournament Bracket
Centerville, IA—Facing elimination in the Region XI Tournament, the Marshalltown Community College Baseball team trounced Muscatine Community College to advance to the team's fourth postseason championship game since 2011. The Tigers defeated the Cardinals 9-1 after falling to Iowa Western Community College 5-3 in the first game of the day.
MCC will face Iowa Western at 12:00 PM on Sunday afternoon at Pat Daugherty Field in Centerville. The Tigers will need to beat the Reivers twice to win the team's first-ever Region XI Championship. MCC has met Iowa Western in each of the team's previous three Region XI Championships- 2011, 2013, and 2014, falling to defeat each time. A trip to the NJCAA Northern District Tournament against Regions 4 and 24 is on the line.
The No. 2 seed Tigers advanced in the winner's bracket of the Region XI Tournament after a 1-0 win over Indian Hills Community College on Friday night, setting up a showdown with top-seeded Iowa Western on Saturday. Freshman Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Republic/Liceo la Romana) kept the Reivers hitless through three innings, but Iowa Western finally broke through and held off the Tigers down the stretch.
With the loss, the Tigers were pitted against Muscatine in the elimination game. The Cardinals fell to Iowa Western 11-1 on Friday but stayed alive in the tournament with a 3-1 win in 13 innings over Indian Hills late Friday night. The Tigers called upon sophomore hurler Kolton Gonnerman (Centerville, IA/Centerville) to keep the team's postseason run alive.
Gonnerman dealt early and often on the mound as the sophomore struck out the side in the third inning to keep the Cardinals scoreless. With neither side on the scoreboard through three frames, MCC finally hit pay-dirt as Bryan Ventura (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Continental) singled to left to score Ceballos and Luis Duran (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Centro de Estudio Espaillat) in the fourth.
The Tigers added two more in the fourth after an RBI-triple from Joel Rosauer (Elk Run Heights, IA/Waterloo East) and later scored on an error. Gonnerman continued to do his job, keeping Muscatine scoreless until a run in the sixth inning.
The Tigers broke the game wide open with five runs in the seventh inning, including a two-run single from Bennett Lopez (Dorado, Puerto Rico/PRBA) and a two-run double from Logan Holtz (Urbana, IA/Center Point-Urbana) to help finish off the Cardinals in just seven innings.
Gonnerman went 6.2 innings with six strikeouts to join fellow teammate Juan Carlos Gonzalez (Piedra Blanca, Dominican Republic/Salome Urena de Henrriquez) in setting the single season wins record at MCC with his eighth victory of the year. Gonnerman now has 11 career wins, the most for an MCC pitcher since 2004.
Holtz finished the day 6-10 at the plate after going 4-5 against Iowa Western in the opener. Ceballos, Duran, and Rosauer all added two hits in the opening game while Duran added another two hits in the win vs. Muscatine.
For complete coverage of Sunday's championship round, be sure to like Marshalltown Community College Athletics on Facebook, follow us on Twitter: Follow @MCC_ATH, Follow @MCCTigers_BB and on Instagram: MCC_Tigers.
Throughout the tournament, a Live Conversation will be provided for fans to take part in, including fan polls, pictures, videos and the most-up-to-date information. Set a reminder prior to first pitch so you don't miss out: 2016 REGION XI TOURNAMENT LIVE CONVERSATION
