Centerville, IA – The Indian Hills Baseball team picked up its second win over Southwestern Community College in the past week with an 8-4 victory at Pat Daugherty Field on Tuesday afternoon. The Warriors move to 12-3 overall on the year.
Sophomore Miguel Salazar (Sentaines, Venezuela/San Luis) connected on his team-leading fourth home run of the year and three players boasted multi-hit games as the Warriors pulled away late for the team's fourth consecutive win. The Warriors are now 4-0 at Pat Daugherty Field this season.
Freshman Fano Cruz (Viera, FL/Viera) provided the early spark for the Warriors with an RBI double in the first inning before Salazar delivered a solo shot to left center in the second frame to push the lead to 2-0. A run from the Spartans in the third cut into the deficit, but Raul Torres (Caugas, Puerto Rico/Leadership Christian Academy) added a run-scoring single in the fifth to push the lead back to two.
Behind an efficient relief appearance from Tomoki Jitsukawa (Tokyo, Japan/Tokai Sapporo), the Warriors maintained its lead until the Spartan offense broke free with two runs in the sixth to tie the contest. Deadlocked at three in the seventh, it was the Warriors that provided the biggest punch of the day, plating five runs in the bottom half of the frame to pull away. An RBI double from Dylan Sayles (Rockton, IL/Hononegah) ignited the offense before Cruz delivered a run-scoring single of his own. An RBI single from AJ Marchetti (Wheeling, IL/Wheeling) extended the lead to 8-3 with just two innings to play.
Sophomore reliever Nathan Smithburg (Fairfield, IA/Fairfield), who entered the game in the sixth, closed out the night for the Warriors with 3.1 innings of relief work. The southpaw struck out a season-high six batters, one off his career-high, to earn his fourth-career win on the mound.
Freshman Kurtis Smith (Melbourne, Australia/Wantirna) got the start on the mound for the Warriors and allowed just two hits in 2.1 innings of work. Jitsukawa limited the Spartan offense with 2.2 innings of scoreless relief.
Seven different players contributed to the 10-hit attack for the Warriors. Cruz, Torres, and Ciro Benavides (Laredo, TX/Alexander) each tallied two hits in the win. With the two hits, Benavides jumped back to a .400 batting average on the year.
The Warriors continue their early season homestand with a pair of doubleheaders at Pat Daugherty Field this weekend. Indian Hills will host Garden City Community College (KS) for a 1:00 PM twinbill on Friday before entertaining St. Cloud Technical & Community College (MN) for a 1:00 PM doubleheader on Sunday. Garden City and St. Cloud will play a pair of games on Saturday afternoon.
As always, GoHillsTV provides free live broadcasts of all Indian Hills home baseball games. Fans can tune in a number of ways all season long:
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