Two Marshalltown Community College sophomore baseball pitchers- Juan Carlos Gonzalez (Piedra Blanca, Dominican Repbulic/Salome Urena de Henrriquez) and Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Repbulic/Liceo la Romana) have signed a National Letter of Intent to join the Southwestern Christian University Eagles for the 2018 season.
Southwestern Christian, a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) and the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) located in Bethany, OK, posted a 44-17 record in 2016. Under the guidance of head coach Joe Blackwell, the team advanced to the NCCAA World Series.
"I'm excited to join a very good baseball program with a good coaching staff," said Ceballos. "Marshalltown made me a better player and allowed me to move on in my baseball career. When we go to the field every day here at Marshalltown, the coaches teach us that we need to go 100 percent every day and that helped us get to the next level."
"Marshalltown changed my life," Gonzalez exclaimed. "The people here are my family and made me a better player. I'm excited to finish my last year at MCC and look forward to playing at the next level next year."
A pair of dominant hurlers for the Tigers, Ceballos and Gonzalez combined to post 11 wins and four saves as freshmen in 2016. The two earned NJCAA All-Region XI Second-Team honors and helped guide MCC to a school record 34 wins and the program's highest national ranking.
Gonzalez set a program record with eight wins as a freshman in 61.0 innings of work. The southpaw struck out 76 batters, also a school record and ranked second in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) in both punchouts and earned run average (2.66). Gonzalez earned ICCAC Player of the Week honors on April 5.
Ceballos was a force on both sides of the field in 2016. The right-handed hurler emerged on the mound to post a 3-3 record with two saves and two complete games. On April 21, Ceballos was named the NJCAA National Pitcher of the Week. As a two-way player, Ceballos also posted a .353 batting average while collecting 53 hits and seven home runs for the Tigers.
"Both Diogen and JC (Gonzalez) came to Marshalltown together and added two finishing pieces to a pretty good puzzle," MCC head coach Rich Grife stated. "Having those two guys come in last year allowed us to have our most successful year in school history.
"JC turned himself into a really good left-handed pitcher as soon as he stepped on campus. He had a great year as a freshman and we look forward to him finishing out a solid career at MCC. Diogen is a very difficult player to replace because he is so valuable on the mound and at the plate. Southwestern Christian is adding not only two quality baseball players, but two great kids."
