CENTERVILLE, IA – Indian Hills split a pair of games with NIACC Saturday at Pat Daugherty Field, winning the opener 6-3, before falling in the nightcap, 11-4.  The Warriors took three of four games over the two-day set with the Trojans.

With a nearly perfect start to the season, one might think that losing for just the second time in 21 outings would leave a bad taste in the mouth of IHCC Head Coach Matt Torrez, but the third-year Indian Hills skipper had a different take.

"I'm so proud of our guys because they came out in game one and found a way to win the series," Torrez said.  "Winning the series over a weekend is really the goal every time.  Coaches want to sweep every weekend, but that's just not very likely."

After having little trouble taking two from NIACC on Friday, the Trojans jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings of game one on Saturday.  IHCC starter Douglas Rojas would settle down to end up tossing six solid frames without surrendering another run.

"I was excited for Douglas," Torrez added. "He struggled last time out (against MCC), and he was really trying to be perfect early when he fell behind, but he fought hard and gave us a quality start, which is all you can ask for."

Rojas' scattered seven hits over his six innings of work.  He struck out nine and walked just one.  His effort allowed the Warrior offense the time to make up the early deficit.

C.J. Castillo brought home Ren Tachioka in the third on a sacrifice fly to cut it to 3-1 and then Tachioka delivered a three-run homerun in the fourth frame to put IHCC back on top to stay at 4-3.  The Warriors would push single tallies across in both the fifth and sixth innings to provide insurance for Gavin Hinckley who replaced Rojas in the seventh inning and worked around a hit batsmen to end it at 6-3.  Hinckley was credited with a save, his second of the season.

"It seems like we keep finding ways to win ballgames," Torrez said.  "Our kids fought to stay in the game, and Ren's homerun was huge."

Tachioka went 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored.  Shane Morrow was 3-for-3 with a double and a run scored. Ricardo Van Grieken, Dave Janssen and Billy Rivera each added singles to the Warriors' eight-hit attack.

Game two was a struggle on both ends for IHCC as the Warrior offense didn't push any runs across until the seventh inning when it was trailing 9-0.  The home team's defense didn't help matters much either as Indian Hills uncharacteristically made six errors.

"We did not play our best game in the last one, but you have to give NIACC credit, they played the entire weekend," said Torrez. "We just did not execute defensively very well, and gave up a few easy runs."

Torrez took down starter Andrew Beissner (2-1) after a walk to start the fourth inning and a combination of five relievers got at least one inning of work the rest of the way.

"We were trying to get some guys some playing time and some innings on the mound as they have been working hard and deserve the time," Torrez admitted. "Even with things didn't go our way in the last game, we still were trying to be competitive which makes any coach happy."

The six Warrior pitchers combined to give up 10 hits on seven strikeouts and two walks while only six of the Trojan runs were earned.

Van Grieken was a bright spot at the plate gong 3-for-4 with a triple and a double. Noel Perez added a double and two RBI.  Tachioka had another multi-hit performance at the top of the order going 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Indian Hills is now 19-2 overall and 14-2 in the ICCAC and sits just a half-game back in the loss column to No. 7-rated Iowa Western (21-5, 12-1).  The Warriors are idle until Wednesday when it travels to West Burlington to take on NJCAA D-II No. 6-rated Southeastern (19-6, 9-4).  The Warriors split a pair of games with the Blackhawks in Centerville last weekend, winning the opener 8-0 before suffering a 7-5 loss in game two.

GAME ONE

NIACC             120 000  0 – 3  7  4

Indian Hills    001  311  x – 6  8  1

WP – Douglas Rojas (3-0), LP – Hunter Day, SV - Gavin Hinckley (2).

(2B – Morrow;  Tachioka;  RBI – Castillo 2, Tachioka 3;  SAC – Castillo 2;  HBP – Van Grieken;  SB – Fortier)

GAME TWO

NIACC            010 033  310 – 11  10  2

Indian Hills    000 000 130 –  4    9   6

WP – Collin Kramer, LP – Andrew Beissner (2-1)

(2B – Perez, Van Grieken;  3B – Van Grieken;  RBI – Morrow, Perez 2, Rivera;  SAC – Rivera;  HBP – Tachioka;  SB – Rivera;  CS – Van Grieken)