A banged-up pitching staff and prevailing winds paved the way to a long weekend for the Marshalltown Community College baseball team.

NAICC hit a grand total of 20 home runs over a three-game series sweep of MCC, including eight in Saturday’s sunny finale, a 28-6, seven-inning Trojan triumph at Shawn Williams Field.

NIACC (13-18 9-5) capitalized on a bad combination of factors working against the host Tigers: an injured pitching staff and steady winds blowing out to left field. The result was a weekend series in which the Trojans took all three games in lopsided fashion — 19-8, 34-5 and 28-6.

“We’ve just got to get healthy,” said MCC head coach Anthony Everman. “We’re asking guys to do stuff that’s not their natural positions. We had two position players pitch today and that’s the first time in my five years here I’ve ever done that.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to get some guys back that have been doing well for us and get them back out there, give our guys the opportunity to play the positions they’re supposed to be playing.”

To compound Saturday’s problems, the Tigers (4-21, 1-13) also committed five errors against a good hitting NIACC lineup, and a handful of fly balls were lost in the sun, too. The Trojans finished the day with 28 hits in 51 at-bats, batting .549 with 10 doubles, one triple and eight home runs.

NIACC scored 11 runs in both the fourth and sixth innings.

“We definitely didn’t execute on defense like I think we could and how we’ve shown we can in the past,” Everman said. “These last two days we’ve dropped a lot of fly balls and misplayed a lot of balls. I don’t necessarily know why but again we’ve got to get back to work and get some guys in their right positions.

“That’s not an excuse. We had guys drop balls who hadn’t dropped any all year so there’s just some focus and, when you’re in long innings like that it’s easy to get your mind in other places. Hopefully we got some experience in handling that and how to do it better next time.”

MCC was in Saturday’s contest in the early stages, before misplayed fly balls and NIACC’s big bats became a major factor. Tiger sophomore catcher Ryan Gouldin led off the bottom of the second inning with a solo home run off the scoreboard in left, making it a 3-1 game.

The Trojans tacked on two more runs in the top of the third on a two-run homer by John Doty, and MCC’s attempt at retaliation was erased on a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play.

By the time Gouldin got to the plate again and cranked another home run, NIACC had already jumped out to a 16-3 lead. Three consecutive doubles chased MCC starting pitcher Leighton Whipple from the mound, and eight more hits followed against Ethan Francisco. Doty hit a three-run homer and a single in the inning as the Trojans took no mercy on MCC’s depleted pitching staff.

“You know there’s going to be adversity and the other team’s not going to feel sorry for you if you’re banged up or whatever reason that things are happening,” Everman said. “You’ve just got to continue to focus on what is in front of you and that’s the next pitch and anticipating making another play or your at-bat whether you’re up a hundred or down a hundred.”

NIACC hit four of its eight home runs in an 11-run sixth.

Doty finished 4-for-4 with a double, two home runs and eight RBIs. Adam Berghult was 5-for-5 with a double, a home run and four RBIs, and Brock Goelz was 4-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored. Three of the Trojans’ reserves hit home runs in the series finale.

Ben Rosin got the win for NIACC, allowing three runs on five hits with nine strikeouts over five innings. Carson Knebel struck out the side in the sixth, and Joe Jarecki hit consecutive MCC batters with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. CJ Terronez followed with a three-run blast to give the Tigers one last highlight in their final at-bat.

MCC has lost 10 straight, allowing at least 11 runs in each game.

“You like momentum when it’s good but you want to forget about it when it’s bad,” Everman said. “I think it’s easier when you win to focus on the next day but I think it’s going to be a good challenge for these guys. A lot of these guys haven’t played before so this is their first year whether they’re a sophomore or a freshman, they’re getting a lot of innings. This is good experience to again learn and focus and adapt and go back to work.”

Gouldin finished 2-for-3 with a solo homer and a two-run shot to lead the MCC bats. Miguel Padron singled and scored on Gouldin’s second round-tripper, and Kyle Magdic singled up the middle after it. Mason Adkins added the Tigers’ only other hit.

Marshalltown returns to action with road games this week, visiting Indian Hills for a doubleheader on Wednesday before playing two games at Ellsworth on Saturday and another on Sunday.

“It’s always a group effort, it’s always about the guys supporting each other and talking to each other and helping each other,” Everman said. “Collectively we’re going to have to push. We’ve got great kids, they’re good people and there’s not a lot of blame going around — It’s everybody’s responsibility — and I commend them for that.”