CENTERVILLE, IA – Indian Hills saw its 16-game win streak come to an end in the nightcap of a ICCAC doubleheader with Southeastern Wednesday evening at Pat Daugherty Field, falling to the Blackhawks, 7-5.
The Warriors had extended its season long run of wins to 16 with an 8-0 win in the opener, but the ride came to a sudden halt in game two.
"You'd like to win every game, but we all know that's very unlikely," admitted IHCC Head Coach Matthew Torrez after the loss. "For us to drop our first game against a quality opponent like Southeastern, I guess I will deal with that fact."
After being shutout in the opener, the Blackhawks collected a pair of unearned runs in top of the first to jump ahead of starter Charles Lefebvre. The Warriors would answer back with a pair of their own as IHCC took advantage of some early wildness out of SCC starter Kyle Lehmann, who walked in a pair of runs to knot it up at 2-2.
A single followed by a hit batsmen and a walk to start the fourth chased Lefebvre, and Dade Hensley came on in relief. The Blackhawks would snag the lead on a ground out, but Hensley would reload the bags with a free pass. Consecutive singles plated three more and Warriors trailed 6-2.
IHCC would battle back with three of their own in the bottom of the frame as Ren Tachioka knocked in a pair with an RBI-triple and then came home on a wild pitch to make it a one run deficit, 6-5.
The Warriors would get no closer as SCC tacked on another in the fifth and held the hosts at bay over the final five innings to snap the IHCC winning streak.
"We did not make enough plays defensively to keep us in the game," Torrez added. "We gave up a bunch of free bases, and that really hurt us. We did do a good job of answering their runs with some runs of our own, but we just didn't do enough offensively late in the game."
Indian Hills' normal high octane offense sputtered in game two, only managing four hits. In addition to Tachioka's triple, IHCC collected just three singles, with base hits coming from Samuel Fortier, C.J. Castillo and Billy Rivera.
Lefebvre (1-1) shouldered the loss in three innings of work, allowing five runs on three hits and a walk. Hensley, Arturo Rodriguez and Gavin Hinkley combined to go the rest of the way with Hensley and Hinkley each tossing a frame, while Rodriguez provided four inning of middle relief.
Game one included more of the ingredients that produced the long win streak to start the season as the Warriors banged out 10 hits and got solid starting pitching.
Nick Marshall (3-0) was a little more erratic than usual early on, but then settled in and churned out a complete game shutout.
"Nick started a little slow, but did a wonderful job getting himself under control to give us a quality start," Torrez said. "He threw 70-plus pitches through four innings, and I was ready to go to the pen, but then Nick had two quick innings in the fifth and sixth, and he wanted to go back out there and finish it. I was really impressed with his outing, along with the energy our guys brought on a cool day."
Castillo and Tucker Ebest turned in multi-hit performances in the opener with Castillo collected a pair of RBI and a double and Ebest knocked in one. Noah Perez added a double of his own and Fortier, Boucher, Rivera, Tachioka and Ricardo Van Grieken all provided singles to the Warrior attack.
"Our offense did a good job against a quality starter," Torrez added. "I was wanting to see our guys tested by a quality arm and we were up to the challenge. We had good at-bats most of the game and had some timely hitting again in situations and stayed patient at certain times to create more opportunities for us."
The Warriors will look to start a new winning streak beginning on Friday as IHCC hosts NIACC for a four-game set over two days. Friday's twinbill at Pat Daugherty Field starts at 1 p.m., while Saturday's first pitch comes at noon.
"I am really proud of our kids and the effort they have given in the first 17 games," Torrez said. "Really feel like they didn't like the taste of their first loss this year and will be ready to go on Friday."
GAME ONE
Southeastern 000 000 0 – 0 3 5
Indian Hills 012 005 x – 8 10 1
WP – Nick Marshall (3-0), LP – Hayden Cooper
(2B – Castillo, Perez; RBI – Castillo 2, Ebest, Fortier, Janssen, Rivera; SAC – Van Grieken; SB – Boucher, Tachioka; CS – Butler, Van Grieken)
GAME TWO
Southeastern 200 410 000 – 7 7 2
Indian Hills 200 300 000 – 5 4 4
WP – Jake Frencl, LP – Charles Lefebvre (1-1)
(3B – Tachioka; RBI – Ebest, Tachioka 2, Van Grieken; HBP – Van Grieken; SB – Tachioka)