Centerville -- Freshman Juan Silva prevented Parkland from scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the 9th inning, then won the game for Indian Hills with his third RBI single in the bottom of the 9th as the Falcons posted a come-from-behind 8-7 victory at Pat Daugherty Field on Wednesday.
Silva's heroics included three different run-scoring singles that either tied the score or gave IHCC the lead. He ran down a fly ball from his position in right field in the final inning that would have given the visitors the lead, then drove in Jet Weber in the bottom of the inning to allow IHCC to get back to the .500 mark at 15-15.
With the score tied at 3-all in the 6th, Silva singled to give Indian Hills the lead. He had another single to tie the score at 7-7 in the 8th.
Centerville High School product Daniel Hargrave, the 6th IHCC pitcher, picked up his first collegiate victory by working a scoreless 9th inning. Jordan Bahnuk started for the Falcons and was replaced by Nick Marshall in the 3rd. Ghenki Muroi, Matthew Vasquez and Malik Abdul also pitched out of the IHCC bullpen.
Soren Graversen started the scoring with an RBI-double in the 1st inning, Indian Hills' only extra-base hit. Parkland scored two runs with two outs in the 3rd to take a brief lead. They then scored four runs in the top of the 7th to go up, 7-5. Silva contributed to the tying rally with his hit in the 8th, then came through in the clutch the next inning.
Weber, the Falcons' leadoff hitter, scored four times. He and Graversen each had two hits. Declan Buckle and Alex Fisher both stole a pair of bases.
"The weather conditions were tough," noted Falcons' coach Matthew Torrez, "with the wind blowing straight in. But our guys stuck with the line-drive approach. We strung some quality at-bats together when we needed it. Overall, I'm happy with our team's energy and effort today."
The Falcons return to conference play this weekend with four games against league-leader Iowa Western. They'll play two at Council Bluffs on Saturday and then host the Reivers Sunday.