Falcons Slug Their Way to Four Conference Wins

Creston, IA -- The Indian Hills Falcons broke out the heavy lumber in a four-game sweep of conference foe Southwestern CC over the weekend, the start of the league schedule for both teams.

IHCC scored 51 runs on 60 hits in the series, but the largest winning margin was only five runs and two of the games were decided by two runs. The Falcons needed all that offense because their pitchers gave up 38 runs.

Twenty-one batters had two or more hits in a game for IHCC. And Indian Hills trailed early in every single game before coming back for the victory.

The series began with the lowest-scoring game of the four, a 6-4 Indian Hills win in eight innings on Saturday. Southwestern scored two early runs against IHCC starter Kevin Vazquez, a first-team all-region pitcher last year.

The Falcons got their first run in the 4th when Yuliecer Arias doubled and Matt Cook drove him in with a single. Indian Hills took a brief lead in the 5th. Adam Coleman singled home Jordan Patton, who had a two-out triple. Arias plated Coleman with another triple.

SWCC regained the lead with two unearned runs in the bottom of the 5th. Francisco Perez singled in Cook to tie the game at 4 in the 6th. The Falcons won it in the 8th with a pair of runs, the first coming on a leadoff homer by Mitch Osnowitz. Guillermo Cruz's single brought in an insurance run.

Kevin Day, who relieved Vazquez in the 6th, picked up the win. He allowed only three hits in three shutout innings.

The hosts plated three runs in the 1st inning of the second game to take a quick lead. The Falcons got two of the runs back in the 3rd and then, after SWCC scored four in the bottom of the 3rd, Indian Hills put five runs on the board in the 4th and four more in the 5th.

Cook had a homer in the 4th and the 5th inning featured RBI hits by Perez, Cruz and Patton. The Falcons tacked on two runs in the 6th and one more in the 7th. The final was 14-9.

Perez and Cruz both had three-hit games and Arias, Cook and Colin Bates had two hits apiece.

Caleb Phillips earned the win with four innings in relief. He gave up only two runs and struck out three.

Sunday started with a 17-13 win for the Falcons, who completed the sweep with a 14-12 victory.

IHCC starter Adam Peters allowed a whopping 11 hits and 11 runs and still got credit for the win. He left after five innings with the Falcons ahead 14-11. IHCC added three runs in the 6th.

Everybody in the Indian Hills lineup had at least one hit with Patton, Osnowitz and Cruz getting three each. Arias had four RBIs and Perez three. Arias, Cook and Osnowitz homered.

The final game of the series was another wild one. Southwestern scored four times in the 1st inning against Matt Cook, the IHCC starting pitcher. After Indian Hills put across three in the 2nd and six in the 3rd, the Spartans knocked Cook out of the game with eight runs in the 3rd to go on top 12-9.

The scored stayed that way until Indian Hills got a run in the 6th and then won it with a four-run 7th. Perez's three-run homer was the big blow in the final inning.

The top five hitters in the lineup for IHCC -- Patton, Coleman, Arias, Osnowitz and Bates -- all had two hits. Arias, Osnowitz and Bates drove in two runs each. Coleton Wilson also had two hits and DH Carter Sherban had a 3-for-3 game with 2 RBIs.

For the 4th straight game, Indian Hills got a good performance from its bullpen. Freshmen Cashtyn DeLeeuw and Shaun Dean combined to shut out the Spartans over the final four innings, permitting the IHCC offense to salvage the game.

DeLeeuw and Dean allowed only one hit and struck out seven in the last four frames.

Indian Hills left town with a 10-10 season record and a 4-0 conference mark that has them all alone in first place.