Centerville -- The conference schedule is off to a good start for the Indian Hills Falcons, who won three-of-four games against Southwestern at Pat Daugherty Field. The Falcons took both games of a Sunday doubleheader, 11-0 and 14-4, then won the finale on Monday, 6-4, after dropping a 4-1 decision in game one.
Sunday, IHCC started fast with a 7-run 1st inning on the way to a five-inning victory. They added four more runs in the 4th and Wyatt Wendell mowed down the Southwestern batters, giving up just two hits and fanning nine in five innings for his second win of the spring. Indian Hills tallied their 11 runs on eight hits with Jet Weber, Matthew Moon and Jay Hester each getting two hits. A pair of doubles for Weber were the only extra-base hits. The top eight hitters in the lineup all scored at least once, Cooper Huckabone, Moon and Hester each crossing the plate twice.
The second game ended early when IHCC pushed across three runs in the 6th. They had scored four in the 2nd and five in the 4th. Weber was 3-for-5 and scored four times; Garrett Takamatsu had three hits and three RBIs, slugging his 7th homer of the year and running his RBI total to 32 in 20 games. Hester had two hits and three runs, Juan Silva two hits and three RBIs and Ryo Yamaguchi scored two runs to back the pitching of Luis Rivera. He gave up only four hits and all the runs he allowed were unearned as the Falcons committed six errors.
"Wyatt Wendell gave us a strong outing in the opener," explained IHCC coach Matthew Torrez, who noted that his team's energy level was good. "We capitalized on their mistakes and the good start definitely helped," said Torrez. "We had quality at-bats in game two and, again, our energy was good."
Monday's opener saw Indian Hills score a run early to lead 1-0 after four innings, but SWCC scored four runs over the final three innings to notch the win. Yamaguchi and Jameson Hart had two-hit games at the plate. Starter Zacharie Allard struck out nine in his 4 2/3 innings, allowing only two hits and one earned run. Jordan Bahnuk took the loss in relief. "Our pitching staff gave us a chance to win," Torrez said, "but we came out flat and struggled offensively with runners in scoring position. A few miscues really came back to haunt us."
The Falcons salvaged the second game of the DH and took the series, jumping out to a 6-0 advantage after four innings and withstanding a 4-run 5th for the Spartans to win 6-4. Nick Marshall won it in relief of starting pitcher Ghenki Muroi, who went the first two innings and whiffed five while permitting only one hit. Nathan Chasey threw two scoreless innings following Marshall to the mound and he got the save. Seven players had one hit each, while six Falcons scored a run and the same number had RBIs. Silva and Chasey doubled and Soren Graverson had a triple. The IHCC coach said, "We played cleaner baseball and we were able to drive the ball a little better. It was good to get a series win."
Indian Hills will travel to Boone on Tuesday for a non-conference game against DMACC.