CENTERVILLE, IA – What a difference a year makes.
Go back 365 days. Coach Matt Torrez and his Indian Hills baseball squad was a week into a pandemic-induced shut down with a 4-10 record. Very few knew what was in store over the following year, but as it turned out, IHCC was done playing baseball for the remainder of the season.
Fast forward a year, and suddenly things are looking far brighter as the Warriors are back on the diamond, fans are in the stands, and after Sunday’s 13-1 and 15-5 sweep of Iowa Lakes, Indian Hills is unblemished at 9-0 and sits at 4-0 in ICCAC play.
“We talked after the games yesterday about bringing energy to the field after playing Friday and Saturday, and the kids answered the bell,” said Torrez. “It’s hard to sweep a weekend in baseball, so I’m really proud of our kids and the effort they gave all day today. We’re a fun group to watch play when we get things going.”
And after finding a way to come up with two wins on Saturday with hit totals of seven and eight, respectively, the Warrior offense was back with a vengeance on Sunday as IHCC wrapped out 16 hits in each contest in rolling to the sweep.
“It was great to see our kids come out with energy and put up runs early,” Torrez added. “After playing 16 tough innings on Saturday, you always wonder what you might get on Sunday.”
What he got was a lethal combination of relentless offense and more outstanding starting pitching as the Warriors plated thirteen runs in just three innings after neither team could push one across in the first. Ren Tachioka and Dave Janssen both when 3-for-3 with an extra base hit and an RBI while Sam Fortier was clutch in big spots, going 2-for-4 with a homer, triple and five runs batted in. C.J. Castillo, Pier-Olivier Boucher and Noel Perez both added multi-hit performances for the Warriors.
“Ren just keeps on coming up with hits, and hits and hits,” said Torrez. “And, Dave Janssen. He’s such a great kid. He works so hard. He’s changed his body and he comes every day and brings energy with him. He’s become a really good baseball player.”
“Sam, along with C.J. Castillo have been a nice one-two punch for us at the top of the order. Sam does a really good job. He know who he is at the top of the order and one guy that deserves a shout out is my assistant coach, Nick Gobert who spends an unlimited amount of time with our guys. I can’t even tell you how much time he puts in, on top of all the field prep work he does.”
Doug Rojas kept the string of strong starts for Warrior pitching going as the lefty went all five innings surrendering just one unearned run in the fifth while striking out seven and issuing one walk during his three-hit performance.
“That was probably the best version of Rojas I’ve seen,” said Torrez. “He really attacked the strike zone. Sometimes he’s effectively wild, but today he was in there and had both pitches going for strikes and was under control.”
Game two was more relentless peppering of Laker pitching by the entire IHCC lineup. All nine starters managed at least one hit and six Warriors collected two or more base hits. Boucher did the most damage with a double, a homerun and five runs batted in. Noel Perez was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI and Noah Butler was 1-for-4 with a round-tripper and a pair knocked. Fortier continued his assult from the leadoff spot with a 3-for-6 performance with a pair of doubles and one RBI to pace the Warriors’ 16-hit attack.
Torrez gave the starting nod to another left-hander in the nightcap as Andrew Beissner proved he could be counted on in a starter’s role. The southpaw went six innings and gave up just one run on eight hits while walking just one and fanning seven.
“Beissner was amped up in the first, but he settled in and really got his breaking ball in there for strike one,” Torrez explained. “He was able to command the fastball and that was great to see. We’re going to need him going forward this year with four games on the weekend and two games on Wednesdays. Someone has to get in there, so it’s nice to see that we have another guy back there that can get in there and help out.”
IHCC is scheduled to host Southwestern for a pair of ICCAC games on Wednesday starting at 1 p.m.
GAME ONE
Iowa Lakes 000 01 – 1 3 5
Indian Hills 042 7x – 13 16 2
WP – Douglas Rojas, LP – Dayton Robinson
(2B – Boucher, Janssen, Perez; 3B – Fortier, Tachioka; HR – Fortier; RBI – Boucher, Fortier 5, Janssen 2, perez, Tachioka, Van Grieken).
GAME TWO
Iowa Lakes 100 000 40 – 5 12 2
Indian Hills 021 403 32 – 15 16 0
WP – Andrew Beissner, LP – Cory Knight.
(2B – Aragon, Boucher, Fortier, Perez, Rivera, Tachioka, Van Grieken; HR – Boucher, Butler; RBI – Aragon, Boucher 4, Butler 2, Castillo, Fortier, Perez 3, Telenko; HBP – Castillo 2, Perez, Van Grieken; SB – Fortier)