The Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) baseball team overcame a 9-8 deficit with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth inning to defeat North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC), 10-9, in the second game of a doubleheader April 7 at the DMACC baseball diamond.
NIACC scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to win the opener, 2-1.
The split gives DMACC a 12-13 overall record and a 4-6 mark in Division II of the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC).
Freshman Hayden Fiala of Sioux Falls, S.D., started DMACC's game-winning rally with a one-out walk and came around to score on a triple by freshman Calen Schwabe of Thompson, S.D. Freshman Austin Murr of Denmark Township, Minn., followed with a base hit, driving in Schwabe with the second run of the inning. Freshman Jakob Richardson of Cave Creek, Ariz., then retired three of the four batters he faced in the bottom of the inning to give the Bears the win.
Schwabe paced DMACC at the plate with four hits and Murr, Fiala, sophomore Matt Krambeck of Omaha, Neb., and freshmen Austin Weiler of Olatha, Kan., had two hits apiece. Murr drove in three DMACC runs and Schwabe, Krambeck, Weiler, Richardson and freshman Robbie McCargar of West Des Moines drove in one run apiece.
Sophomore John Werner of Burlington pitched the first five and a third innings for DMACC, allowing five runs on five hits. He struck out seven and walked four. Freshman Jackson Uner of Stillwater, Minn., worked one inning, allowing four runs on three hits with one strikeout and one walk and freshman Sam Laakso of Duluth, Minn., pitched two-thirds of an inning and allowed one hit. He got the win to level his record at 1-1. Richardson, who earned his first save of the season, struck out two batters and walked one in one inning.
Murr had a pair of base hits, including a double, and drove in DMACC's lone run in the first game. The Bears scored the run in the fifth when Schwabe reached on an infield single and scored on Murr's double.
Sophomore Alec Holcomb of Owatonna, Minn., pitched the first five innings for DMACC and suffered the loss, his third of the season against two victories. He allowed two runs on four hits, struck out six and walked two. Uner pitched one inning, recording two strikeouts and a walk.
The DMACC baseball team will face Indian Hills Community College (IHCC) April 10 at Centerville. IHCC is 17-12 overall and 4-4 in Division I of the ICCAC.