WATERLOO, Iowa – The seventh inning was a very atypical for NIACC pitching in Friday’s game with Southeastern at the Region XI Tournament.
Southeastern (36-21) scored nine runs in the seventh inning off of seven hits and a NIACC error to take control of the game and send the Trojans to the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament with a 15-7 loss.
NIACC (37-20) will face Iowa Central, Ellsworth, or DMACC in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo. NIACC is now one loss away from having its season ended.
Trojan pitchers, who entered the game with the ICCAC’s lowest team ERA (3.40), saw 14 Blackhawk batters, gave up seven earned runs and used three pitchers in the seventh inning. Southeastern scored eight of the nine runs that inning with two outs.
Offensively for the Trojans, Hunter King (Fr., Mason City, IA) had a strong game by going 3-for-3 with three runs and an RBI for NIACC. Jose Perez (Fr., Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) also had a strong game at 3-for-4 with two RBI and a pair of doubles.
Lee Gealow (Fr., Mason City, IA), who pitched to four batters in the seventh, was given the loss. Gealow (2-2) gave up four runs, all of which were unearned. Lukas Bakker (Fr., Brisbane, Australia) started the game for the Trojans, and, despite allowing some runners to get on base in the early innings, worked his way out of jams and left the game after the sixth with NIACC leading 6-4. He recorded four strikeouts and four walks.
Ean McNeal (Fr., Cedar Rapids, IA), Kyle Moses (So., St. Ansgar, IA) and Michael Bohl (So., Mason City, IA) all saw action as well, and all three gave up at least two earned runs against a Southeastern team that found its rhythm.
For Southeastern, catcher Denio Rondon was 3-for-4 with three RBI, while centerfielder Stan Simmons, shortstop Jose Deleon, left fielder Zach Nichols, and first baseman Brett Sanders all had two RBI. Relief pitcher Kyle Breitner (3-1) got the win.
The Trojans led on a pair of occasions, and were able to hold down the Blackhawk offense through much of the game. NIACC scored in the top of the first when Nate Olin (So., Galesburg, IA) scored off a single by Tyler Peterson (So., Eden Prairie, MN) that sailed over rightfielder Jose Cruz. The lead was short lived, as Southeastern’s Sanders hit a two-run double in the bottom of the first.
Southeastern was able to get runners on base early in their halves of the first three innings. They put Bakker in trouble early, with two runners on base before the first out in the first and second innings, and loaded the bases before the first out in the third. However, the Trojans were able to able to get the outs needed and limited the damage to only four runs in those innings.
King tied the game 2-2 in the second by scoring after a pick off error by pitcher Luke Staub.
After Southeastern retook the lead with two runs in the bottom of the third, but NIACC turned the tide for the middle innings by scoring five runs and shutting out the Blackhawks during that stretch. Max Waletich’s (Fr., Fairmont, MN) sac fly in the fourth scored King to make it 4-3.
NIACC scored three in the fifth inning, all of which came after two outs. Tillo drove in Peterson on a double, and scored off King’s double in the next at bat to make it 5-4. NIACC got a little help from the sun as well, as Cruz overran a fly ball by Perez to right and missed the catch. That mistake scored King to make it 6-4.
NIACC added their final run in the seventh when Perez singled and allowed Tillo to score. Then the wheels fell off.
Gealow stepped in to replace Bakker to start the bottom of the seventh, and after hitting Nichols with a pitch, he struck out Sanders. Cruz then hit a long fly to right that Olin couldn’t hold on to, which allowed Nichols to advance to second and put Cruz on first.
After two more singles, one of which scored Nichols, coach Todd Rima called in Moses. Moses started by striking out his first batter faced, but gave up four runs on three straight hits for the Blackhawks. McNeal came in to finish the innings, but Southeastern would add four more runs on two hits before the inning was done.
Southeastern shut out the Trojans in the top of the eighth, and scored two off of Bohl in the bottom of the eighth to invoke the 8-run playoff mercy rule.
NIACC will play at 3:30 p.m. in an elimination game against the winner of which ever game, Ellsworth vs. DMACC or Ellsworth vs. Iowa Central, at Riverfront Stadium. Ellsworth knocked out Iowa Lakes 11-1 in the loser’s bracket on Friday. Southeastern will face the Iowa Central-DMACC at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the final pairing between undefeated teams in the tournament.
