Centerville, IA—The Marshalltown Community College baseball team battled back to keep its postseason run alive as the Tigers defeated Southwestern Community College 13-3 in five innings at the NJCAA Division I Region XI Baseball Tournament. The Tigers dropped the opener to Indian Hills Community College 5-2.
Playing as the No. 3 seed, the Tigers fell behind 5-0 early to Indian Hills in the opening game. MCC plated two runs late, but could not overcome the deficit and went to the consolation bracket against the No. 4 seed Spartans. Southwestern dropped its opening game to top-seed Iowa Western Community College and were eliminated from the postseason with its loss to the Tigers.
MCC will take on the loser of Iowa Western or Indian Hills tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 PM at Pat Daugherty Field.
Freshmen Adam Barrett (Council Bluffs, IA/Abraham Lincoln) and Max McCay (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle) each collected three hits in the opening game, but the Tigers could only muster two runs as Luis Duran (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Centro de Estudio Espaillat) and Peyton Stephens (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle) crossed the plate in the sixth.
The offense was more prevalent in game two as the Tigers pounded out 14 hits in the win. After a scoreless first frame on both sides, MCC plated three runs in the second inning against the Spartans. Jose Mieses (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Prepara), Duran, and John Magnuson (Elk Run Heights, IA/Waterloo East) all recorded run-scoring singles in the inning.
MCC upped its effort in the third with four more runs, including another RBI single from Magnuson. Starting pitcher Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Republic/Liceo la Romana) helped his own cause, scoring a run in the fourth to make it 8-0.
The Tigers poured it on in the fifth, scoring six runs to put away the Spartans for the win. Magnuson walked it off with his third RBI single for the five-inning victory.
Mieses, Duran, and Magnuson tallied three hits each. Ceballos was dominant on the mound and did not allow a hit until the fifth inning. The sophomore allowed three unearned runs to pick up his fifth win of the year.
Both live video and live stats of Saturday's postseason action for the Tigers will be available. Follow the Tigers on Twitter for all of your updates: Follow @MCCTigers_BB
A look at the final swing from today's Region XI Tournament win for @MCCTigers_BB over @SWCC_Baseball. Tigers play at 2:00 PM tomorrow pic.twitter.com/ijL0GzgxIT
— Marshalltown Tigers (@MCC_ATH) May 13, 2017
