Norfolk, NE – Freshman Kevin Ramos (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Springfield Commonwealth) delivered a historic performance for the Indian Hills Baseball team over the weekend, hitting four home runs in a game to lead the Warriors to a pair of wins over Northeast Community College (NE). Indian Hills took two of three in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) series with the Hawks.
The Warriors opened the weekend with a sweep over the Hawks on Saturday, taking game one 10-1 before Ramos powered the offense in a 9-4 game two victory. The Warriors fell in the series finale on Sunday, dropping a 12-2 contest.
Ramos put together a remarkable performance to highlight Saturday's sweep, going 5-5 with four home runs, five RBI, and four runs scored in game two. The freshman opened up the series in game one with a 3-3 effort at the plate, recording a double and a triple. In the three games on the weekend, Ramos batted .727 with six extra base hits, seven RBI, and five runs scored.
The Warrior offense continued its impressive stretch of play to open the weekend with 10 runs in the opener, the team's fourth double-digit run total in a six-game span. Indian Hills pulled away from the Hawks early, building a 8-1 lead through four innings of play.
Ramos was joined by sophomore Tijmen Nagel (Amsterdam, Netherlands/Roc Amsterdam) who went 3-5 at the plate with two doubles, two runs, and two RBI. In total, the Warriors pounded out seven extra base hits in game one, including a pair of doubles from sophomore AJ Marchetti (Wheeling, IL/Wheeling). Eight of the nine Warriors in the lineup recorded a hit while seven different players tallied an RBI.
On the mound, sophomore Cole Huebner (Edmonton, Alberta/Strathcona), the reigning ICCAC Pitcher of the Week, went 5.2 innings with five strikeouts and just one earned run. Freshman Lincoln Muller (Delta, Canada/Sands Secondary) closed out the game with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.
Ramos carried over the momentum in game two as the freshman delivered a second inning solo home run to spark the offense. The Hawks held a 4-1 lead through four innings before the Warrior offense came to life. Indian Hills cut into the deficit with a run in the top half of the fifth before Ramos connected on his second home run of the game in the sixth. Marchetti went back-to-back with Ramos in the frame as the Warriors plated four runs to take a 6-4 advantage.
Ramos delivered his third home run of the contest in the top of the seventh, another solo shot to extend the advantage. Ramos capped his historic day in the top of the ninth with a two-run home run to straight-away centerfield, marking one of the all-time great individual performances in school history.
Sophomore Cale Clark (Marionville, MO/Marionville) added three hits in the win for the Warriors. Freshman Yuan-Kai Chang (Taipei, Taiwan/Taipei Dai) secured his second win of the year on the mound, going seven innings to lead the staff. Sophomore Aiden Ennis (Scarborough, Ontario/Mary Ward Catholic) tossed two perfect innings of relief as the Warriors completed the sweep.
Indian Hills came up short in the series finale as Northeast used a 6-1 advantage early on to pull away. Clark added a base hit and an RBI in the loss.
Ramos' breakthrough performance added to an impressive stretch for the freshman. Over his last eight games, Ramos is batting .640 with five home runs, two doubles, and 11 RBI.
The Warriors return to ICCAC action Wednesday afternoon at Kirkwood Community College for a single nine-inning league game. First pitch from Cedar Rapids, IA is set for 2:00 PM.
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