Centerville, IA – The Indian Hills Baseball team completed its three-game Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) series with North Iowa Area Community College with a doubleheader split on Monday. The Warriors took game one 11-3 before falling in game two 3-2 after defeating the Trojans 16-8 on Sunday.
The Warriors move to 18-6 overall on the year and 8-1 in ICCAC play. The game two loss snapped the Warriors' season-long 11-game win streak. With the split, Indian Hills has now won 10 of its 12 games at Pat Daugherty Field this season.
The Warriors' patient approach in game one served its purpose as the home team collected nine walks in the opener, including four in the first inning to stake a 5-0 lead. James Dutton (Toronto, ON/Forest Hill Collegiate) delivered a run-scoring single and Adrian Vargas (Caracas, Venezuela/Instituto Central de Educacion Ice) added an RBI double to right.
After allowing three hits and two runs in the top of the first, starting pitcher Arturo Rodriguez (San Diego, CA/San Ysidro) retired 19 consecutive batters to allow the Warriors to pull away.
Ricardo Van Grieken (Merida, VZ/San Luis) recorded an RBI in the fourth and drove in two more with a double in the sixth. Tucker Ebest (Austin, TX/Lasa) put Indian Hills ahead 9-2 with an RBI double in the sixth. The Warriors plated two more runs in the seventh to pick up the team's 11th win of the year.
Rodriguez went the distance on the mound for the Warriors, his first career complete game. Rodriguez finished the game with five strikeouts.
NIACC struck first in game two with a run in the first and two more in the third to build a 3-0 lead. The Warriors got on the board in the bottom of the third as Van Grieken added another RBI double to score Daniel Figueroa (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico/Leadership Christian Academy).
Both sides went scoreless until Indian Hills added a run in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI groundout from Vargas. The Warriors threatened in the final two frames, but left a pair of runners on to fall short to the Trojans.
The Warriors host Southeastern Community College at 3:00 PM on Wednesday at Pat Daugherty Field. Indian Hills swept the Blackhawks in a conference doubleheader on March 29. Wednesday's game can be seen on GoHillsTV.
