Marshalltown, Iowa -- Indian Hills made it four in a row in a weekend series with Marshalltown, ending the Tigers, 5-4, in Sunday's first game and winning, 10-6, in the nightcap.
The victories cap a week that saw Indian Hills win six straight games. The league sweep pushes their season record to 18-12 and their conference mark to 6-2, tied with Iowa Western for the league lead.
Sunday's first game featured a clutch pitching performance by freshman Michael Starcevich, who took over for starter David Kroger with one out in the 2nd and threw shutout baseball over 3 2/3 frames, allowing only two hits with six Ks. Starcevich notched the win and Cody Hinson came out of the bullpen for a one-two-three bottom of the 7th to record his second save of the series.
Joel Fuentes, who had nine hits in the four games with MCC, had two singles and scored a run in the opener. The Falcons were outhit 10-5, but made the most of their opportunities. They pushed across three runs in the top of the 1st. After the Tigers had two-run innings in the first two frames, the Falcons plated two in the 3rd and made them stand up for the win. Paolo Montezuma scored twice for the Falcons.
Indian Hills jumped out to a quick lead in game two, scoring four times in the 1st. Mitch Langer's two-run double was the big blow in the inning.
Marshalltown cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning when Logan Holtz connected for a two-run homer off IHCC starter Trevor Kiminski. Kiminski worked out of a jam though later in the inning, getting back-to-back strikeouts with runners on 1st and 3rd to end the inning.
IHCC added on to the lead with two runs in the 2nd and one in the 3rd. The Falcons then broke it open with three runs in the 6th inning. Langer greeted reliever Thomas Sanchez with a first-pitch, bases-loaded single to bring home the first two runs. Lewis and Justin Chalupa had two RBIs in the game and Fuentes scored three runs.
Lefty Jordan Magers pitched a scoreless inning out of the bullpen and got the win. Mike Levar threw three innings of relief to nail down the victory.
