Creston, IA—With two runners in scoring position and the Marshalltown Community College baseball team clinging to a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning, sophomore Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Republic/Liceo la Romana) struck out back-to-back batters to close out the Tigers' second come-from-behind victory of the day over Southwestern Community College, capping the team's four-game weekend series sweep.
Ceballos and the Tigers held on for their fourth-straight Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) victory over the Spartans this weekend after winning Saturday's doubleheader opener by rallying for an 8-5 victory. MCC also took both games on Friday afternoon in Creston.
With the series finale victory, Ceballos improved to 4-1 on the mound this year after striking out a career-high 10 batters. The Tigers relied on a pair of bullpen arms- Duncan Snider (Muscatine, IA/Muscatine) and Adam Barrett (Council Bluffs, IA/Abraham Lincoln) to help rally for the game one victory.
After the first weekend of conference play, the Tigers sit in first place, ahead of Iowa Western Community College who posted a 3-1 weekend record over Indian Hills Community College.
The Tigers handled Southwestern in both games on Friday afternoon, but the Spartans owned the early goings of Saturday's opener with four runs in the second inning. The two teams traded a run in the third, but it was the spark the Tigers needed. Jose Mieses (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Prepara) doubled in the fourth to score Joel Rosauer (Elk Run Heights, IA/Waterloo East) to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. Mieses later scored on a passed ball to cut the Spartans' lead to two, 5-3.
MCC added a run in the fifth as Kaleb Hanks scored on a wild pitch. The Tigers broke it open in the sixth with three runs, including an RBI-bunt and another run scored from Hanks, to take their first lead of the game.
The offense powered the comeback in game one for the Tigers, but the bullpen fueled the energy. Snider tossed a scoreless fifth inning to earn the win for the Tigers while Barrett kept the Spartans off the board for the final two frames to earn his first-career save.
Mieses, Hanks, and Max McCay (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle) all collected two hits in the win. Jalen Horton (Des Moines, IA/Hoover) and Peyton Stephens (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle) drove in two runs each.
MCC used a first inning run on an RBI-single from Luis Duran (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Centro de Estudio Espaillat) to open game two, but the Spartans answered with a run of their own in the bottom half. Following a run in the second from the Spartans for a 2-1 lead, the remainder of the game proved to be a pitcher's duel between Ceballos and Southwestern hurler Ian Torres.
Ceballos struck out two batters in four of the seven innings he worked in the series finale. After the initial two runs in the first two innings, Ceballos allowed just three baserunners over the next four frames. The MCC offense took advantage of a Spartan error as Brok Hopwood (Ottumwa, IA/Ottumwa) put the ball in play in the sixth inning that led to Duran and John Magnuson (Elk Run Heights, IA/Waterloo East) crossing home plate for a 3-2 lead.
With one out and two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh, Ceballos kept his composure and punched out the final two Spartan hitters, including the final pitch of the game that caught the batter looking.
Sophomore Enmanuel Lopez (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Prepara) went 2-4 with a double for his conference-leading 16th extra base hit of the year.
Next up for the Tigers is a home doubleheader against Iowa Central Community College at 2:00 PM on April 4.
