Poteau, Oklahoma -- A solo homer by Alejandro Gonzalez in the top of the 8th inning allowed Indian Hills to salvage the final game of a weekend series against Carl Albert State College. Gonzalez's round-tripper came in game two on Sunday and gave the Falcons a 4-3 win. Carl Albert had tied the game with a homer of their own in the bottom of the 7th before Gonzalez provided the game-winning blast.
The series began with the resumption of a game the teams started on Feb. 21, the season-opener for IHCC. In that contest, Carl Albert had battled back from an early 8-1 deficit with a 12-run 7th inning uprising and they finished off the 15-9 decision on Saturday. In the regularly-scheduled game that day Carl Albert won 8-7, holding off a late Indian Hills rally. Sunday's first game was a 10-6 win for the hosts.
In the Falcons win, Nathan Chasey was one out away from a complete game victory before he was victimized by a two-run homer in the bottom of the 7th inning that tied the game up at 3-all. Chasey got the final out and his 7-inning stint was the longest for an IHCC starter so far this spring. He struck out 8 and permitted only seven hits. Maddux Hoaglund, after the Gonzalez homer, came on and retired three straight batters in the 8th to pick up the win. Indian Hills grabbed an early lead with two runs in the 2nd and another one in the 5th. Ricardo Van Grieken had two hits for the Falcons and their runs were scored by Gonzalez, Van Grieken, Noel Perez and Brady Nowicki.
In the game that was suspended last month, Carl Albert took the lead late with their big inning and notched the victory. IHCC had three hits from Billy Rivera and four by Perez. Shane Morrow had an early three-run HR and he, Ko Nakada and Joshua Williams all scored twice. Nakada also stole two bases. The Falcons used four pitchers to try to snuff out the 7th inning. Nick Marshall had started the game and went 4 2/3 innings.
The 8-7 Carl Albert win on Saturday saw them again have a big 7th inning, this time scoring five times to take an 8-3 lead. IHCC saw a rally that produced three runs in the top of the 8th come up just short. Perez slammed a two-run homer, and Van Gieken knocked in three runs for the Falcons. Cooper Huckabone had a three-hit game and Morrow had two hits and two runs. Marshall started this game and pitched into the 7th inning. Thomas Lopez, Ryoya Yamashita and Hoaglund all threw in relief.
Sunday started with Carl Albert again using a big inning to take control. This time, they scored six in the bottom of the 3rd to go ahead 8-4. Huckabone, Nakada, and Dave Janssen all had a pair of hits for IHCC with Janssen slugging his first homer. Huckabone drove in two runs and six different players scored a run. Douglas Rojas was the starter and gave way to Josue Mireles in the 3rd inning. Milan Van Der Breggen and Charles Lefebvre also pitched in relief.
Indian Hills is 3-9 going into a single game at Parkland College in Illinois on Wednesday.