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Reivers rumble over Tigers for two

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Marshalltown Community College sophomore Marving Serrano, left, crosses the plate in the first game of a doubleheader against Iowa Western on Wednesday at Shawn Williams Field. The 11th-ranked Reivers won both games, taking the first 16-1 and the second 14-6.

At the start of the second game of a doubleheader against Iowa Community College Athletic Conference Division I foe Iowa Western on Wednesday, the Marshalltown Community College baseball team needed a spark to start some competition.

Including the first game of the day, the NJCAA No. 11 Reivers had thoroughly handled the Tigers over the last three contests, winning those three by a combined 41-3. Things didn’t start well in the second game either, as Iowa Western took advantage of six MCC walks to score five runs in the first inning, carrying the momentum from the earlier 16-1 win.

The Tigers could have hung their heads and just gone through the motions while accepting the loss, but they didn’t, scoring in each of the first four innings to pull within three runs, 6-3.

The Reivers (29-5, 8-0) would eventually pull away for a 14-6 win in the second game, but Tigers assistant coach Joe Goodman said he liked the way MCC (3-17, 1-5) closed out the doubleheader.

“That’s the thing about baseball, you just never know when that big inning is going to be,” Goodman said. “I am proud of the way the guys competed in the second game, they could have just rolled over and died and we could have been out of here after five, so the way that we were able to come out against that kind of pitching and that kind of defense and try and stay in that game and make something happen, I am proud of the guys for that.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Marshalltown Community College first baseman Brodie Paulson (39) catches a toss from outfielder Karlos Lilly, right, to complete a double play during the second game of a doubleheader against Iowa Western on Wednesday.

The problems for the Tigers start and end on the mound, as 10 total pitchers appeared for MCC in the two games to give up 27 hits and 26 total walks. Since Marshalltown’s best pitcher Walter Hernandez was sidelined with an injury, the pitching staff is all hands on deck, and Goodman said he had to manage just how much work each of his guys got.

“You don’t want to go out there and have a starter go five and then waste him for the next couple of days,” Goodman said.

The Tigers actually called upon regular field players such as center fielder Marving Serrano and first baseman Brodie Paulson to hit the mound, and both of them found a bit of success.

Serrano went two innings in game two, allowing four hits and three earned runs, while Paulson didn’t surrender a single earned run in the final inning of play.

“Really we are just looking for guys that are coming out to compete, you want to see a guy out there that is going to come out and control what he can control and just compete,” Goodman said. “Somebody who’s not going to hang their head, has great body language and can set the tone for the guys behind them.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Marshalltown Community College catcher Joel Torrealba (44) is greeted by Travon Hughes (2) and the rest of the Tigers after hitting a home run in the second inning of game two of the doubleheader against Iowa Western on Wednesday.

In both games the Tiger bats were relatively warm, as MCC had six hits in game one, despite only scoring one run, and nine hits in game two. Paulson and Serrano were the best Marshalltown hitters in game one, each going 2-for-3 with Serrano scoring the lone run of the game.

Joel Torrealba was the story offensively for the Tigers in game two, as he started off with a solo home run in the second inning and finished 3-for-3 in the game with two runs and two RBIs.

Goodman said a lot of the guys are starting to look much more at home in the batter’s box.

“That’s such a big thing, hitting the pitches we are supposed to hit,” Goodman said. “We had guys early on in the season that just couldn’t get the bat off their shoulder but now you are seeing guys come into their own and have a little more confidence up there, see their fastball and go get it. It’s just a matter of stringing those timely hits together, as great as it is to have base runners on you have to find somebody who is going to come up with two outs and put a ball through a gap to score two runs.”

Losing two games by a combined 23 runs against the No. 11 team in the country wasn’t necessarily in the plans for the day, but Goodman said despite what happened there were still plenty of positives to take away.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“They are a great team and are going to go far this season, but we got a lot better this week,” he said. “We found some things we can work on but we found some plays where we took some outs away or found the alternate out or put a ball through the gap. It’s a marathon and not a sprint and we are really making strides.”

MCC will look to continue the growth this season when they travel to Centerville to take on Indian Hills for a doubleheader on Thursday and a doubleheader on Friday. Thursday’s games are set for a 1 p.m. start.

At Marshalltown

Game 1

Iowa Western CC 16, Marshalltown CC 1

IA Western 122 230 6 — 16 15 1

MCC 001 000 0 — 1 6 3

Indigo Diaz, Breyden Eckhout, Cole Albers and Tanner Holen; Christopher Lopez, Tryston Durham, Pedro Ballester Lamberty, Diego Almonte, Elijah Bergeron and Carter Eldridge. WP–Diaz. LP–Lopez. 2B–IW: Kobe Hyland, Holen 2, Ross Indlecoffer 3; MCC: Marving Serrano, Brodie Paulson. LOB–IW 10, MCC 4.

Game 2

Iowa Western CC 14,

Marshalltown CC 6

IA Western 501 410 3 — 14 12 0

MCC 111 200 1 — 6 9 2

Ben Dotzler, Parker Shreve, Cole Albers, Keaton Winn and John Hawk; PJ Maldonado Rodriguez, Greg Glass, Garrett Greiner, Marving Serrano, Brodie Paulson and Joel Torrealba. WP–Dotzler. LP–Rodriguez. 2B–MCC: Torrealba. HR–IW: Tyler Reichenborn (3), Hyland (1), Indlecoffer (2), Ryan Sullivan (2); MCC: Torrealba (2). LOB: IW 11, MCC 2.

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