Creston, IA—A pair of quality starts on the mound for the Marshalltown Community College baseball team led the Tigers to two Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) wins on the road over Southwestern Community College Friday afternoon. The Tigers collected 10 hits in each game to win by scores of 7-3 and 9-6.
Sophomore hurler Juan Carlos Gonzalez (Piedra Blanca, Dominican Republic/Salome Urena de Henrriquez), fresh off of a five-inning no-hitter last weekend, carried the same effort into Friday’s contest with the Spartans. Gonzalez went 4.1 innings without allowing a hit and finished the game with nine strikeouts in six innings. Sophomore JJ Stephens (Sioux City, IA/Sioux City East) made his second consecutive start and earned the win after tossing six strong innings.
Enmanuel Lopez (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Prepara) added four hits on the day with his first knock serving as the sophomore’s 100th career hit, becoming the third Tiger in the last two years to eclipse the milestone. Lopez also closed out both games in the seventh inning on the mound.
With the two wins, the Tigers (11-11/2-0) extended their current winning streak to seven games against the Spartans (11-15/0-2) who made their first conference appearance as an NJCAA Division I program on Friday. The Spartans previously played as NJCAA Division II members since 2012.
MCC built a 4-0 lead through three innings with the help of RBI base hits from Tony Salato (Knoxville, IA/Knoxville) and Jose Mieses (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Prepara). Salato added a two-run single in the sixth to extend the lead to 7-1.
Gonzalez dominated on the mound once again, keeping the Spartans scoreless until the fifth inning. The sophomore struck out nine batters for the second-straight game to improve to 3-1 on the year. Salato finished the game with three RBI and Kaleb Hanks (Sioux City, IA/Sioux City East) went 2-2 at the plate.
After a second inning run from the Spartans to take the lead in game two, MCC plated four runs in the third behind RBI base hits from Lopez, Peyton Stephens (Carlisle, IA/Carlisle), and Hanks. MCC pulled away with a pair of fourth-inning sacrifice flies and tacked on three more in the fifth inning.
JJ Stephens did his part on the mound, keeping the Spartan bats quiet enough to prevent any threat in the scoring column as the Tigers held on for the afternoon sweep.
Hanks and Salato added two hits each in the nightcap while Lopez went 3-5 with a pair of RBI. Mieses tallied a hit in each game to extend his hitting streak to nine games.
MCC and Southwestern are back in action Saturday afternoon for a doubleheader with first pitch set for 1:00 PM