Tigers jump all over Southwestern for sweep

It's still home sweet home for the Marshalltown Community College baseball team.

The Tigers continued their winning ways at Shawn Williams Field by overpowering Southwestern Saturday for a pair of run-rule shortened victories in Iowa Community College Athletic Conference Division I play.

The MCC offense churned out 26 runs over the course of the doubleheader behind a 12-0 five-inning win in the opener and a 14-4 six-inning victory in the finale to complete the sweep.

Marshalltown (20-15, 7-3) also got the pitching to go with the offense to move to 13-4 this season at home going into today's 1 p.m. doubleheader against the Spartans (11-32, 0-10).

A leadoff double by Miko Bernstine in the bottom of the first in the opener led to a run and started a day that included six hits and five runs scored for the Tigers' sophomore outfielder.

The run was all the support starting pitcher Jimmy Six needed. The Marshalltown native recorded his fourth complete game of the year (MCC has five total) as he shut out Southwestern on five hits. Six, now 4-2 for the season, walked one and struck out seven. All of the Spartans' hits were singles and only one runner advanced to third base.

"Jimmy had another good start and he's starting to roll them out," said Marshalltown head coach Rich Grife. "I think it's four in a row now. He's been steady, the one game he gave up more than one or two (runs) was that day the wind was blowing around 40 mile-per-hour around here."


T-R PHOTO BY MARK PAWLAK
Marshalltown Community College sophomore pitcher Jimmy Six throws to the plate during the first game of Saturday's conference doubleheader against Southwestern at Shawn Williams Field. Six threw a five-hit shutout (the first shutout of the season for a Tiger pitcher) as Marshalltown won 12-0 in five innings. The Tigers later completed a sweep with a 14-4 win in game two.

Marshalltown scored six runs in the second and five more in the fourth to end the contest in five innings.

Bernstine went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, two runs scored and three RBIs.

Freshman shortstop Ben Lott had his first home run as a Tiger with a solo shot to start the fourth. Damil Reyes and Jag Gordaya joined Lott with two RBIs in the contest.

The Tigers had 13 hits to plate 14 runs in the finale. Marshalltown ended the game in the sixth after Tanner McLaughlin scored on an error. Southwestern committed seven errors in the contest.

"We did a good job of taking advantage of their mistakes and doing what we're supposed to do," Grife said. "The guys hit the ball OK and did things right."

Out of the No. 1 spot in the order, Bernstine finished game two 3-for-4 with a double, three runs scored, an RBI and three stolen bases. After coming into the weekend with a .352 batting average, Bernstine had a 6-for-8 day.

"When he has good days, they're great days," Grife said. "They're monster days like that where nobody can get him out.

"He's really been locked in since the Ellsworth game here which has been a long time ago now. They kind of had their way with him and now he's been using right field more."

"Since we put him in that one-hole, it feels like we've been a lot more offensive," Grife added. "He has good at-bats to start games and just gets us rolling."

Gordaya had two hits and three RBIs in game two, while Jordan McCoy added a pair of hits and RBIs. Kyle Hedges had two hits, and T.J. Flanagan scored three runs.

The MCC pitching staff limited Southwestern to a pair of hits in game two. The Spartans tallied four runs behind eight bases on balls and four Tiger errors. Starting pitcher Ian Hamilton went four innings, allowing three runs on one hit with seven walks and six strikeouts.

"Ian was good early and the strike zone left him a little bit there," Grife said. "He still did enough to get us through."

Marshalltown finished the doubleheader with 15 two-out RBIs.

"I thought with two outs we had a lot of RBIs," Grife said. "We were busting through when it seemed like we weren't going to score. We would get in scoring position and pop a hit in. That's what you have to do on the weekend, you have to find a way to get those runs across."