Centerville, IA – The Indian Hills Baseball team picked up its third consecutive win with a 13-3 Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) victory over Ellsworth Community College at Pat Daugherty Field on Wednesday afternoon.
The Warriors used a four-run first inning and a seven-run sixth inning to run away with Wednesday's conference tilt. Indian Hills improved to 26-8 overall on the year and 11-4 in league play. The Warriors have now won three consecutive ICCAC contests and remain in second place in the ICCAC DI Baseball standings. Indian Hills reached double-digit runs for the 14th time season on Wednesday.
Eight different players collected a hit as the Warriors totaled 16 knocks on the day, the third-most this season for the Warriors. Endi Jaquez (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Radio Santa Maria), Zachari Pace (Colorado Springs, CO/Vista Ridge), and Logan Myers (Andover, MN/Andover) each tallied three hits in the win. Freshman Fano Cruz (Viera, FL/Viera) delivered a pair of triples while tallying a career-high four RBI on the afternoon.
��️"The biggest thing down the stretch for the team is leadership."@_LoganMyers talks a big day at the plate and the importance of sophomore experience heading into the home stretch of the season following a 13-3 win over Ellsworth today⤵️#WarriorNation pic.twitter.com/mF2FoTWJyc
— Indian Hills Baseball (@IHCCBaseball) April 11, 2024
Sophomore Adam Golby (Coronation, Alberta/South Central) made the start on the mound and picked up three strikeouts before Kurtis Smith (Melbourne, Australia/Wantirna) tossed 3.2 innings of scoreless work to secure the win, moving to 4-1 on the year. Smith retired nine straight batters at one point to silence the Panthers before Owen Corbett (Oswego, IL/Oswego) closed out the contest with a scoreless seventh inning.
The Warriors jumped all over the Panthers in the first frame as JJ Dutton (Toronto, Canada/Forest Hill) delivered an RBI single to open the day. Cruz drilled his first three-bagger of the game to right center for a two-run knock as part of the four-run first. The Panthers rallied back to pull within one, 4-3 in the third, but Myers delivered run-scoring hits in the third and fifth to keep Ellsworth at a distance.
Leading 6-3 heading into the bottom half of the sixth, Cruz delivered another blow to the Panthers with his second two-run triple, this time down the right field line. Pace added an RBI single while Jed Kilpatrick (Niwot, CO/Niwot) and Jaquez added RBI base hits to lead the Warriors to the run-rule shortened affair.
As a team, the Warriors' 16 hits came in 32 at bats, just the second time this season the time has produced a team batting average of .500 or better.
Thanks in part to Cruz's two triples, the Warriors now lead all National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Baseball programs with 24 triples this season.
Indian Hills returns to action this weekend for a three-game ICCAC series against Northeast Community College (NE). First pitch from Pat Daugherty Field is set for 1:00 PM Saturday as part of a doubleheader followed by a single contest at 12:00 PM Sunday.
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