Neosho, Missouri -- The Indian Hills Falcons came up empty on an early-season trip into Missouri, losing a single game to State Fair and then getting swept in a four-game set against Crowder.
IHCC dropped a 4-2 contest at State Fair with the hosts breaking a 2-2 tie with single runs in the 6th and 7th innings. The Falcons had seven hits, two of them by Ko Nadaka and one each by Billy Rivera, Cooper Huckabone, Noel Perez, Shane Morrow and Ren Tachioka. Nakada supplied a solo homer and the other run was knocked in by Perez. Four pitchers were used by IHCC, with starter Nick Marshall going 5 2/3 innings and getting the loss. He was relieved by Josue Mireles and Ryoya Yamashita and Milan Van Der Breggen also pitched. The latter two combined for two scoreless innings.
Saturday against Crowder, the home team won 16-6 and 13-2. Rivera went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs in game one. Huckabone and Perez both had run-scoring doubles, Nakada knocked in a run and Pier-Olivier Boucher homered and scored twice. Douglas Rojas, Maddux Hoaglund and Daniel Hargrave did the pitching for IHCC. Rivera had two more hits in the nightcap to pace the Indian Hills offense. Tachioka, Nakada and Huckabone also had hits and Huckabone and Perez provided the RBIs. Nathan Chasey started on the mound and Van Der Breggen faced three batters in relief. Crowder scored nine runs in the 5th inning and slugged six home runs.
Sunday's twinbill stated with an 11-1 win for Crowder. Huckabone chipped in a single and double, Perez doubled and Rivera and Dave Janssen each had a single. Thomas Lopez started and was relieved by Mireles, with Lopez tagged with the loss. Crowder completed the sweep with a 12-2 victory. Nakada drove in Ricardo Van Grieken with one of the runs for Indian Hills, which got two hits from Rivera and one from Tachioka. Charles Lefebvre, Omar Vigil and Josias Mogollon handled the pitching chores for IHCC.
The Falcons go to Oklahoma to battle Carl Albert College this weekend. The home opener will be Mar. 15 against DMACC.