Centerville, IA—The Marshalltown Community College baseball team's season came to an end Saturday afternoon as the Tigers fell in the NJCAA Division I Region XI Baseball Tournament to No. 8 Iowa Western Community College 12-6.
The third-seeded Tigers squared off with the top-seeded Reivers in an elimination game at Pat Daugherty Field on Saturday, and after an early deficit, MCC battled back to pull within one run late, but Iowa Western held on for the victory. The Tigers finish the year with a 20-33 record.
Trailing 7-2 heading to the seventh inning, the Tiger offense caught fire, scoring four runs in the frame to pull within one. Sophomore Luis Duran (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Centro de Estudio Espaillat) ripped a two-run double before Diogen Ceballos (La Vega, Dominican Repbulic/Lice la Romana) belted a two-run home run to ignite the upset-minded Tigers.
Iowa Western proved why they are one of the top 10 teams in the nation as the Reivers answered with five runs in the bottom half and held off the Tigers the rest of the way to advance to the final day of the tournament.
Ceballos ended his career with a memorable performance, going 3-5 at the plate, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. Freshman Peyton Stephens (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle) and sophomore Kaleb Hanks (Sioux City, IA/Sioux City East) each added two hits in the loss. Brett Braida (Chariton, IA/Chariton) worked six innings of quality relief for the Tigers.
Iowa Western will face Indian Hills Community College on Sunday afternoon for the Region XI Championship.
Diogen says let's go! His two-run shot is part of a four-run seventh to pull the Tigers within one, 7-6 with @ReiverBaseball pic.twitter.com/tyKWxaF5A1
— MCC Tiger Baseball (@MCCTigers_BB) May 13, 2017
