Marshalltown, IA – An offensive outburst powered the Indian Hills Baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of Marshalltown Community College on Wednesday afternoon. The Warriors dropped the Tigers 8-2 in game one before erupting for an 18-5 win in the nightcap.
Freshman Jesus Rodriguez (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Life Prep Academy) collected four hits on the day, including three in the opener to extend his season-high hit streak to 13 games. Thomas Maathuis (Amsterdam, Netherlands/Caland Lyceum) led the charge in game two with a career day, connecting on two home runs while driving in nine RBI in the win.
With the two wins, Indian Hills sweeps the four-game regular season series with the Tigers. Monday's game one served as the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) series finale between the two clubs as Indian Hills moves to 19-6 in league play and 30-11 overall on the year. Indian Hills now sits one full game ahead of Southeastern Community College and Iowa Central Community College in the conference standings.
The Warriors, winners of eight of their last nine ballgames, are now 19-3 overall in the month of April.
Playing its third doubleheader in the last four days, Indian Hills jumped out to a 5-0 lead through the first two frames, highlighted by a two-run first inning home run from Rodriguez. Rodriguez added a run-scoring base hit to extend the lead to 6-1 in the fifth for the Warriors.
Marshalltown took back a run in the bottom half of the fifth, but the bullpen work of Carlos Valenzuela (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Global Life Vision) and Tomoki Jitsukawa (Tokyo, Japan/Tokai Sapporo) limited the Tiger offense down the stretch. Rodriguez's dominant performance was capped in the top of the ninth with his second two-run home run of the ballgame. Freshman Nathan Smithburg (Fairfield, IA/Fairfield) closed out the game with a scoreless ninth.
Rodriguez finished the opener 3-5 with five RBI and a pair of runs scored. Sergio Chavez (Laredo, TX/John B. Alexander) added a 3-3 effort, the sophomore's third multi-hit affair in the last four outings. Valenzuela, Jitsukawa, and Smithburg tossed seven innings of relief, scattering five hits with just one earned run allowed.
Indian Hills put game two out of reach in the opening frame as the Warriors scored six runs, all with two outs, in the top half of the first. An RBI double from Chavez and a run-scoring single from Andrew Srebroski (York Haven, PA/Northeastern) plated a pair before Maathuis connected on his first home run, a three-run shot.
The Warriors erupted for 12 runs in the second frame, tied for the most in a single inning this year. Maathuis broke the game open with a bases loaded double to score three. An RBI double from Rodriguez pushed the lead to 13-1 as the Warriors continued to work the scoreboard.
With the bases loaded once again for Maathuis in the second inning, the freshman delivered his biggest knock of the game, a grand slam to extend the lead to 18-1.
Making his third appearance of the year on the mound, freshman Diego Centella (Panama City, Panama/Global Vision Christian) tossed three innings of relief, allowing just one hit to pick up his first-career win.
Maathuis finished with one of the most impressive performances in recent memory for the Indian Hills Baseball program. Srebroski, Parker Bulthuis (Utrecht, Netherlands/Rocmn), and Ciro Benavides (Laredo, TX/John B. Alexander) each collected two hits in the win.
Indian Hills returns to action this weekend with a three-game ICCAC series at No. 14 Iowa Western Community College. The Reivers are currently 31-9 overall and 16-9 in conference play.
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