MASON CITY, Iowa – If the second game of a doubleheader is the game that people remember, NIACC baseball will be happy to forget game one against Century College (MN).
No. 14 NIACC split Wednesday’s doubleheader with the No. 4 (Division III) Century College Mighty Wood Ducks, 2-9 and 8-1, to move to 26-9 this season.
NIACC’s offense couldn’t get out of its own way in game one by squandering several scoring opportunities. Tyler Peterson (So., Eden Prairie, MN) helped NIACC rebound for the nightcap with four RBI on three hits, while Hunter King (Fr., Mason City, IA) brought in two RBI on as many hits. Nick Tillo (So., Sioux City, IA) added three singles in the second game as well.
NIACC had runners on first and second with no outs four times during the first game, but converted that scenario into runs only during the first inning. Reynaldo Sala (Fr., Santiago, Dominican Republic) scored from second after a hit by Nate Pilacinski (So., Gaylord, MN), to start NIACC’s scoring, and Pilacinski scored on Jose Perez’s (Fr., Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) sacrifice fly four batters later.
NIACC also had runners on first and second with no outs in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Century forced Peterson into a double play and Tillo into a groundout in the third, picked off King at second and threw out Perez at the plate in the fourth and allowed no hits in the fifth. NIACC left two runners on third base during those innings.
Century, who scored one in the first and led 3-2 after two innings, blew open the game in the fifth with six runs. Wood Duck right fielder Mitch DeGrasse hit a bases loaded two RBI double to start the streak. They also added three RBI singles and one more run when Trojan catcher Osvaldo Marin (So., Carolina, Puerto Rico) overthrew an attempt to throw out a base runner stealing second.
Neither team threatened to score after the fifth inning.
NIACC never trailed in game two. Peterson knocked in NIACC’s first three runs, first by scoring Sala off a single in the first, and hitting a double that scored Robert Swenson (Fr., Mason City, IA) and Pilacinski in the third.
King had a two RBI triple in the third after DeGrasse missed a diving catch of a foul ball while still in fair territory. The ball rolled into NIACC’s bullpen, and the umpires gave King two bases after he reached first base before the ball went out of play. The hit scored Peterson and Tillo. King scored during the next at bat to make it 7-0 after three.
Swenson hit a solo homerun, his second of the year, and Peterson brought in Sala again on a single in the sixth to round out NIACC’s scoring.
Pitcher Drew Verstegan (Fr., Mason City, IA) only allowed Century to score its lone run in the fourth when DeGrasse scored on a double by Zach Horn. Verstegan (3-0) had four strikeouts and allowed eight hits in five innings on the mound.
The Trojans will face Ellsworth Community College in an ICCAC weekend series starting on Saturday at 1 p.m.
GAME ONE
CC 102 060 0 – 9 11 2
NIACC 200 000 0 – 2 8 3
Century stats
Jeff Heath (W, 4-3) (3 K, 2 BB) and Zachery Horn.
2B – Mitch DeGrasse
Multiple hits –Ben Schmitz 2, DeGrasse 2, Horn 2, Spence Bonner 2
Multiple RBI – Degrasse 3 RBI, Horn 2
NIACC stats
Michael Bohl (L, 2-1) (1 K, 3 BB), Kyle Moses (5), AJ Hrubetz (6)(1 HBP) and Osvaldo Marin.
Multiple hits – Reynaldo Sala 2, Nate Pilacinski 2
GAME TWO
CC 000 100 0 – 1 8 2
NIACC 105 002 x – 8 14 0
Century stats
Nick Fure (L, 4-2)(4 K, 1 BB), DeGrasse (6) (1 BB) and Horn.
2B – Horn, Justin Polak
NIACC stats
Drew Verstegan (W, 3-0)(3 K, 2 BB), Connor Krommenhoek (6) (1 K) and Robert Swenson.
2B – Sala, Peterson
3B – Hunter King
HR – Robert Swenson
Multiple hits –Nick Tillo 3, Peterson 3, Swenson 2, King 2, Sala 2
Multiple RBI – Peterson 4, King 2
