Marshalltown, Iowa -- In a weekend in which Indian Hills received tremendous pitching performances against Marshalltown CC, the best one came in the series finale, a no-hitter by freshman Nick Green that allowed IHCC to take the series three-games-to-one, but also wrap up the top seed for next weekend's Region 11 tournament.
Green's near-perfect game came in a 6-0 win, that followed a combined two-hit shutout in Sunday's opening game, a 2-0 victory.
The first two games of the series were played in Centerville on Saturday because the Tigers' home diamond was unplayable. Christian Torres fired a two-hitter in a 14-0 blanking of MCC, before the Tigers gave up an 8-2 lead, then recovered to win 10-8 in the nightcap.
By the time Green's no-no was in the books, Indian Hills had forged a tie for the regular season conference title with Iowa Western, but the Falcons took the tie-breaker and, therefore, will be the top seed for the postseason tourney at Pat Daugherty Field. in Centerville.
Green allowed only a 2nd-inning walk to Ryan Thrasher and retired the final 17 batters he faced in a tidy 85-pitch effort. He struck out five.
IHCC pushed across three runs in the 2nd inning, two on RBI singles by Edgar Lebron and Dario Polanco and the third scored when Joel Booker was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Junior Santos doubled, stole third and scored on Paolo Montezuma's groundout in the 5th. Booker and Santos added run-scoring singles in the 7th.
That was more than enough offense for Green, who had his best outing of the season.
The Falcons scratched out a couple of runs in game one and the lefty trio of Alsis Herrera, Cody Hinson and Jose Marin made them stand up. Herrera worked the first five innings and Hinson and Marin went one frame each. Marshalltown had only one runner in scoring position. The IHCC hurlers combined for nine strikeouts.
The first run scored when Santos reached on a fielder's choice, stole second and third, and trotted home when a wind-blown popup behind second base was dropped. An insurance tally was added in the 5th on a clutch two-out RBI single to right by Caleb Ratzman that scored Polanco, who had reached on a walk.
Indian Hills didn't waste any time in the first game on Saturday. After Ratzman poked a leadoff single, Booker tripled him home and he scored on a base hit by Santos. After a flyout, Jake Lewis crushed a two-run homer to right-center for a quick 4-0 lead.
Five more runs scored in the 2nd. Lewis had a two-run double and Lebron a two-RBI single. Joel Fuentes added a run-scoring single and it was 9-0 after two innings.
Mitch Langer, Lebron and Fuentes contributed RBI-singles in the 3rd; Montezuma drew a bases-full walk and Lewis picked up his 5th RBI on a sacrifice fly in the 4th.
Meanwhile, Torres permitted just two hits and fanned seven in a five-inning complete game effort.
The Tigers only offense in the series came in the second game. Bennett Mann slugged a three-run homer in the 1st and a two-run shot in the 4th and Ty Russell had a two-run blast in the 2nd as MCC raced away to an 8-2 lead.
The Falcons' first two runs scored on an RBI grounder by Montezuma and a single by Polanco. After three scoreless innings, IHCC got to Marshalltown starter John Bloom for six runs in the 6th inning.
Montezuma brought home two with a single, Lebron and Polanco had RBI-singles, Ratzman a sac fly and Booker another RBI-hit to tie the score at 8-all.
But MCC came right back to regain the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the 6th against IHCC reliever Aaron Doughty on Daryl Blaskovich's two-run double. And the Falcons then went one-two-three against Bloom in the 7th.
Indian Hills closes the regular season with a 38-15 record. Only three teams -- IHCC, Iowa Western and Marshalltown -- will compete in the region tournament. Muscatine is ineligible for the postseason.
Iowa Western and Marshalltown will square off in the first game Saturday at 11:00. Indian Hills will play the loser of that game at 2:00 and will then face the winner of the opening game at 5:00 on Saturday afternoon. The action will continue at 11:00 Sunday morning with another game, if needed, in the double-elimination affair at 2:00.