MASON CITY, Iowa – No. 13 NIACC baseball had a lot of hometown help to sweep against Division I opponent Marshalltown Community College, getting 12 RBI out of freshmen from Mason City to win by scores of 7-3 in seven and 8-7 in eight innings.
Drew Verstegen (Fr., Mason City, IA) led the group with five RBI. He hit a clutch liner down the right field line in the eighth inning of game two to allow Ryan Voves (Fr., Mason City, IA) to score from first base. That was Verstegen’s third RBI of the game.
Second baseman Hunter King (Fr., Mason City, IA) had a strong doubleheader as well with two RBI in each game. Catcher Robert Swenson (Fr., Mason City, IA) had a three-run homer in game one to launch NIACC (36-17 overall) out front in that game.
Osvaldo Marin (So., Carolina, Puerto Rico) hit a critical solo homerun to tie game two in the bottom of the eighth to set up Verstegen and Voves.
One the mound, Michael Bohl (So., Mason City, IA) won game one to move to 3-1 this season, and reliever Kyle Moses (So., Saint Ansgar, IA) was credited with game two to move to 3-0.
Marshalltown (22-29) only led for one-half inning in the doubleheader. They left six runners in scoring position in the first game, and eight in the second.
Verstegen, King, and Swenson got to work early, with Swenson’s homerun putting NIACC in front 3-0 in the second inning of game one. Verstegen doubled two batters later to allow Tanner Unkel (Fr., Cedar Rapids, IA) to score from first and make it 4-0.
After a pair of Marshalltown runs in the top of the third, King erased those by hitting a two-run homerun off Ben Ryder in the bottom half of that inning. The homerun knocked Ryder out of the game. Marshalltown replaced him with Sean McGuire, who started his night by retiring 11-straight batters.
NIACC aided Marshalltown slightly in the fifth. With runners at first and second, Marshalltown’s Kyle Simpson hit a fly to right which outfielder Nate Olin (So., Galesburg, IL) misfielded off a bounce. One Tiger would score, but an Olin-to-King-to-Swenson relay was able to gun down Steven Murtha at the plate and let the Trojans get out of the inning with a 6-3 lead.
NIACC had just two hits off of McGuire, both coming with two out in the sixth. Unkel singled to left to start, and Verstegen’s triple to the right field corner brought Unkel home for the final score of the game.
Game two went extra innings and lasted 3 hours and 24 minutes. Marshalltown pitcher Devon Burrell struggled at the mound by walking seven in the first three innings. The Trojans sent Connor Krommenhoek (So., Sioux City, IA) to the mound, who pitched for 3.2 innings.
NIACC took control early again, and despite only recording three hits in the first three innings, NIACC led 6-1 after three.
Tyler Peterson (So., Eden Prairie, MN) led off NIACC’s scoring with an RBI double in the first. King drove in a pair, including Peterson, later in the inning to make it 3-0.
After Marshalltown scored one run in the third, NIACC scored three in the bottom half with the help of five walks. Jose Perez’s (Fr., Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) RBI single was the only hit of the inning. After loading the bases, a groundout by Reynaldo Sala (Fr., Santiago, Dominican Republic) and a walk by Verstegen added two more runs. Marshalltown replaced Burrell with Austin Fischer with two out in the inning.
The next four innings were all Marshalltown, Fischer retiring 12 of the next 15 Trojans he faced. Marshalltown also began to put together some offensive runs. The Tigers scored two in the fourth and three in the fifth to tie the game at 6-6 and take momentum. However, they would strand the go-ahead run on third in both the fifth and sixth innings.
Leading off the seventh, Andrew Utterback had a chance to put the Tigers in position to take the lead after hitting a fly ball to the fence in right-center. Utterback extended the hit into what would have been a double, but he missed touching first base. NIACC recorded the out by throwing to first.
McCoy finally broke through for the Tigers with a two-out double off Kyle Moses (So., Saint Ansgar, IA) in the eighth that scored Anderson Villaroel and made it 7-6.
In the bottom of the eighth, pinch hitter Max Waletich (Fr., Fairmont, MN) flew out to deep right field to start the inning off. Marin then came through with the much needed homerun to tie and knock out Fischer. Fischer’s replacement, Utterback, would walk Voves and allowed Verstegen’s hit down the right field line to win the game.
NIACC is done with home games this season, and has one more series before the Region XI Tournament next week. They will play at Iowa Western on Saturday at 2 p.m.
GAME ONE
MCC 002 010 0 – 3 10 1
NIACC 042 001 x – 7 10 3
Marshalltown stats
Ben Ryder (1 K, 1 HBP), Sean McGuire (3)(4 K) and Kyle Simpson.
2B – Ben Lott
Multiple hits – Lott 3, Steven Murtha 3, Simpson 2
NIACC stats
Michael Bohl, Lee Gealow (6), Ean McNeal (7) and Robert Swenson.
2B – Jose Perez, Drew Verstegen
3B – Verstegen
HR – Swenson, King
Multiple hits – King 2, Unkel 2, Verstegen 2
Multiple RBI – Swenson 3, King 2, Verstegen 2
GAME TWO
MCC 001 230 01 – 7 10 1
NIACC 303 000 02 – 8 7 3
Marshalltown stats
Devon Burrell (3 K, 7 BB), Austin Fischer (3) (3 K, 2 BB), Andrew Utterback (8) and Murtha.
2B – Jordan McCoy
Multiple hits – McCoy 3, Tyler Evans 2
Multiple RBI – McCoy 3
NIACC stats
Connor Krommenhoek (3 K, 3 BB), Corey O’Conner (4), AJ Hrubetz (5)(1 K, 1 BB), Kyle Moses (7)(1 K, 1 BB) and Osvaldo Marin
2B – Tyler Peterson, Nate Olin, Verstegen
HR – Marin
Multiple hits – King 2
Multiple RBI – Verstegen 3, King 2
