Season Ends with Loss to MCC

Muscatine, IA -- The Indian Hills Falcons staged a come-from-behind victory in their first game of the Region 11 postseason tournament, but couldn't duplicate the win the second day of the tourney and saw their season end short of the championship game.

The Falcons scored twice in the bottom of the 8th to win a 4-3 decision against Marshalltown on Friday.  That put IHCC in the winner's bracket and earned them a shot at Iowa Western on Saturday.  IWCC posted a 6-2 win in that contest and Marshalltown then turned the tables on the Falcons by coming from behind for a 10-6 final.

Junior Santos started the game-winning rally Friday with a leadoff single.  Taylor Ostrich brought Santos home with a double to tie the score at 3 and, after a Joel Booker sacrifice bunt moved Ostrich to 3rd, he scored on Tyler Hermann's sacrifice fly.

Hermann walked and scored the first IHCC run; Booker was hit by a pitch and came around to score their second tally. 

Derek Kawlewski pitched around a two-out error in the 9th to save the win for Jose Marin, who pitched a scoreless 8th in his only inning of relief.  Jake Stalzer and Matt Lashlee combined for the first seven innings for the Falcons, giving up six hits with seven strikeouts.

Indian Hills got their four runs against MCC's Cory Ceponis, who had beaten the Falcons twice during the regular season.

The Falcons didn't play well defensively in the two games Saturday and that hurt their chances.  They committed four errors in the loss to Iowa Western and five in the MCC defeat.

Iowa Western broke a 1-1 tie with a run in the 3rd, then scored three in the 4th and one in the 5th, all against IHCC starter Luke Schneider.  Only three of the runs were earned.

Hermann, Jordan Berry and Kevin Valera each had two hits for Indian Hills.

A four-run 1st gave the Falcons an early jump on MCC in the elimination game, but the Tigers battled back by scoring at least one run in five of the first seven innings.  Four in the 7th broke open a 6-5 game.

Playing his final game as a Falcon, Hermann had another two-hit game and Booker also picked up two hits.  Indian Hills left 13 runners on base and failed to take full advantage of four MCC errors, five walks and two hit batsmen.

Indian Hills ended the season with a 32-22 record.  Three sophomores -- Ostrich, Hermann and Berry -- were in the starting lineup for the finale and Sam Ross was the only soph of the five pitchers that were used.