Late Rallies Lead to Sweep for IWCC

Council Bluffs, IA -- Iowa Western used late-game rallies in three of the four games on the way to a conference sweep of Indian Hills over the weekend on the Reivers' home field.

Sunday's two losses were especially painful for IHCC.  Falcons' starter Adam Deneke threw five shutout innings in game one only to see Iowa Western tie the score in the 6th and win it with a run in the bottom of the 7th.

The second game was another bitter result for the Falcons.  Indian Hills overcame the first-game disappointment by scoring four times in the top of the first and added a run in the 5th.  But the 5-0 lead disappeared when the Reivers pushed across seven runs in the bottom of the 5th and went on to complete the sweep with a 7-5 win.

Iowa Western won both games on Saturday, 7-5 and 7-1.  In the first game, IHCC led 5-3 before IWCC cut the lead to one in the 5th and then went on top for good with three runs in the 6th.  The Falcons were held to just five hits in the second game.

Deneke was cruising along in his outing on Sunday until the Reivers' Alex Greer tied the score with a one-out homer in the 6th.  The winning run scored on a bases-loaded hits batsman the next inning.  Deneke struck out seven over the first four innings and had only allowed  three hits before Greer's homer.

Tyler Hermann's first-inning single accounted for the Falcons' only hit and run.  He drove in Caleb Ratzman, who had led off the game by getting hit by a pitch.

Dario Polanco had a two-run single and Deneke added an RBI-single as the Falcons jumped out early in the second game.  Taylor Ostrich contributed a run-scoring single in the 5thand it was 5-0 going into the bottom of the 5th.

Starter Sam Ross had limited IWCC to only four hits through four frames, but hit the first two batters he faced in the 5th and that opened the floodgates.  There were five hits -- three of them doubles -- a walk, an error and the two hit batsmen in the inning.  The Falcons could only manage one baserunner in their final two at-bats.

The Falcons opened the series by scoring four times in the top of the 1st in game one on Saturday.  Jordan Beery had a two-run double, Tyler Hermann an RBI single and Kevin Cicali a sacrifice fly.

After IWCC scored once in the first against IHCC starter Jake Stalzer and twice in the 2nd, Cicali single in a run in the 3rd to make it 5-3.  Iowa Western, though, started their comeback with a run in the 5th and took the lead for good with three in the 6th.

Stalzer went the distance for the Falcons.  He gave up eight hits and seven runs, five earned, with no walks and four Ks.

Ratzman and Hermann had two hits each.  Hermann's RBI single in the 1st extended an amazing streak for the sophomore, giving him at least one RBI in 11 games in a row!  The streak came to an end in the second game when he failed to drive in a run, despite going 1-for-3.

Iowa Western sprinted to a 7-1 lead after four innings in the second game and the Falcons were held to five hits.  Kevin Valera drove in their only run with a single to bring home Dario Polanco in the 2nd.

Christian Torres went the first three innings and took the loss.  He walked four, hit two and was charged with five runs.

The Falcons are 15-14 for the season and .500 at 6-6 in the conference.  They are scheduled to play a home doubleheader against North Central (MO) on Tuesday.