The Trojans scored six runs to start off the game, one in the top of the first and five in the top of the second, and with NIACC ace Evan Reifert on the mound it seemed the Tigers would have a hard time putting any contact on the ball, let alone getting a rally going.

Instead of giving up on the game, the MCC men kept battling and eventually took an 8-7 lead in the sixth inning before finally winning 11-10 and completing the epic comeback.

Tiger head baseball coach Anthony Everman said his team understands that anything can happen in a game of baseball, and an early deficit is not a death sentence, no matter how big it is.

“In a game, especially a nine-inning game, a lot of things can happen. It’s a lot different than a seven-inning game, it’s obvious there’s more innings but there’s also more pitching changes that have to happen and more plays that are going to have to be made,” Everman said. “I thought we did a good job of playing defense after we had a few mishaps early on and I thought our pitchers did a really good job of pressuring the zone, inducing contact and making them have a good approach at the plate.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown Community College pitcher Jacob Medcalf celebrates after striking out the final batter in the Tigers’ 11-10 win over NIACC at Shawn Williams Field on Wednesday.

The player who showed the most patience at the plate was sophomore infielder Ryan Carter. After starting the game 0-2 with a strikeout, groundout and a walk in his first three at-bats, Carter came back to the plate in the bottom of the sixth with the bases loaded and one out. Trojan reliever Tyson Tucker had just walked the bases loaded, which prompted NIACC head coach Travis Hergert to go the bullpen and bring in righty Chase Rath to face Carter.

It only took one pitch from Rath for Carter to change the game, as he jumped all over Rath’s first delivery and sent it packing for a grand slam to tie the game at seven-all.

“I wanted to get a good pitch, I knew he was going to throw me a fastball down the plate so I was trying to stay off of anything in the dirt, anything off-speed, and he threw it to me and I was on time,” Carter said. “Coming out of the pin right off the bat, I knew he was going to be filling up the zone so I just had to be on time for that first pitch.”

Just two batters later catcher Elijah Bergeron put the Tigers (8-24) up for the first time all game with a solo home run.

NIACC would answer in the top of the seventh, however, by scoring two runs off a homer from Ross Cochran, who led the Trojans with a 4-5 line and finished a triple shy of the cycle. NIACC would add another run in the top of the eighth to take a 10-8 lead, but in the bottom of the eighth Julio Sanchez and Candido Encarnacion led off with singles, bringing Carter back to the plate with a chance to retake the lead.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Carter took full advantage, hitting his second home run of the game to put his team up 11-10, which would be the eventual winning score.

“I knew we had a chance to come up and put some runs up on the board,” Carter said. “They did a good job of getting on base, I was just trying to get a good swing off and be on time with the fastball because I knew he couldn’t spot up his off-speed. He gave me a fastball and I was able to put a good swing on it.”

Everman said he’s kept Carter in the three-hole in the lineup through some early struggles at the plate this season because he knew Carter had the ability to come up big like he did on Wednesday.

“He started awful slow this year but we have a lot of confidence in him,” Everman said. “He had a really good fall for us and is a really good teammate and person and it’s always exciting to see those guys continue to get better and have some success.”

While Carter and Bergeron’s late homers were the ones that either tied the game or put Marshalltown up, it was Encarnacion’s solo shot in the third to make it a 6-1 game that Everman thought got the offense going.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“It kind of gave us a chance to reset what our timing was,” Everman said. “We were able to say, ‘OK, Candido was on time right there and look what can happen when we execute what we are trying to do.’ I felt like we were a little sped up early on where we were anxious, trying to get to the ball instead of taking the best swing that we normally take. That certainly gave us a jolt in the arm to show if we get on time, good things can happen.”

While the offense is typically the story in an 11-10 game, there wouldn’t have been an opportunity for a comeback at all if not for a great relief appearance by Tiger sophomore Michael Ver Lee. After starter Blake Lindsey surrendered six runs in 1 2/3 innings, Ver Lee came in for the final out of the second inning. His first at-bat was a hit batter, but Ver Lee would get the final out of the frame with a strikeout on Shane Kelleher to stop the bleeding.

That gave Ver Lee some momentum, and he would use that to cruise through the next three innings while allowing just two hits, no runs and striking out eight before being pulled in the sixth inning.

“Longest outing of the year for him, he started off a little shaky coming in but did a really good job of settling in and making good pitches and pressuring the zone by just throwing strikes,” Everman said of Ver Lee. “That’s a big part of it, if you limit freebies that really helps your defense stay awake and it also helps you gain confidence that you’re making good pitches.”

It was actually the final pitcher of the night that earned the win for the Tigers, however, as Jacob Medcalf entered the game in the top of the eighth and allowed two hits and no earned runs while striking out four batters for four of the final five outs.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Everman said Medcalf, who was named the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference Division I pitcher of the week last week, has come along well this season and proved that by performing well in a tough situation.

“He has had a little bit of experience, not necessarily in the save role, but going in with the game on the line and trying to give us a good outing,” Everman said of Medcalf. “He’s had some good outings in a row and obviously he helped us out a bunch in that situation as well.”

Often times when a team fights hard to come back from a big deficit and eventually retakes the lead before surrendering it again, the second comeback attempt is more difficult because of the strain from the first obstacle. Everman said his team was able to avoid that by continuing to do what it could do in the circumstance.

“It’s a big part of refocusing on what you can control,” he said. “It’s a game of momentum, you always want to put some good at-bats together and you want to score every inning, but if you get some guys to have some good at-bats and start getting the momentum back that’s very important. Also our guys on the mound, even after we gave it up they did a good job of refocusing on what they are trying to execute and they did a good job of throwing strikes.”

After just two wins in the first 18 games of the season, MCC has won six of the past 14 contests, and its losses have been much closer as well. Everman said his Tigers have stayed the course and they are finally starting to reap the rewards.

“We have played some good baseball the last few weeks,” he said. “Obviously we would like to have more wins, but as far as the consistency of our play I think it’s been getting better. We have been in more games and are playing better defense and having better at-bats, if you look at our last 10 or 15 games offensively the numbers have been pretty good. I like the momentum of the team and the guys on the mound, we’ve been playing better defense, I think we’ve just done a really good job of getting better throughout the year.”

MCC will try to keep the momentum going on Saturday when it hosts NJCAA Division I No. 10 Iowa Western for a doubleheader, starting at 1 p.m.

Marshalltown CC 11, NIACC 10

At Marshalltown

NIACC 150 001 210 — 10 10 1

MCC 001 025 02X — 11 9 2

Evan Reifert, Tyson Tucker (5), Chase Rath (6), Brodie Paulson (7), Michael Sturek (8) and Ross Cochran; Blake Lindsey, Michael Ver Lee (2), Raymond Collazo (6), Jacob Medcalf (8) and Elijah Bergeron. W–Medcalf. L–Paulson. 2B–NIACC: Gabe Eckstaine, Anthony Catalano, Cochran; MCC: Tyler Coleman. HR–NIACC: Jacob Hansen, Fox Leum, Cochran; MCC: Ryan Carter 2, Candido Encarnacion, Bergeron. LOB–NIACC 11, MCC 7.