NJCAA Region XI Baseball Tournament preview
Three of the last four NJCAA Region XI Division I Baseball Tournament championship games have included the Marshalltown Community College baseball team. The Tigers look to add to their recent success in the 2015 tournament.
2015 NJCAA Region XI Division I Baseball Tournament Bracket
Directions to Muscatine Weekend Weather Forecast
Three of the last four NJCAA Region XI Division I Baseball Tournament championship games have included the Marshalltown Community College baseball team. The Tigers look to add to their recent success in the 2015 tournament.
Fresh off of their first-ever NJCAA District Tournament appearance in 2014, the Tigers enter the 2015 Region XI Tournament as the No. 3 seed and will take on No. 2 seed Indian Hills Community College at 2:00 PM on Friday. This year's tournament is hosted by Muscatine Community College at Tom Bruner Field located in Muscatine, IA.
Iowa Western Community College earned the top-seed for the 12th consecutive year while host Muscatine will play as the No. 4 seed.
The Tigers are coming off of a split with Indian Hills to conclude the 2015 regular season last weekend. MCC took the middle two games, including a 2-0 victory behind a one-hit shutout from Joel Lopez (Dorado, PR/Jose S. Alegria), while the Falcons took the opener and the final game of the four-game series. In the team's previous meeting this year, Indian Hills swept the Tigers at Shawn Williams Field.
The two teams have history against one another in the Region XI Tournament. MCC defeated Indian Hills by way of forfeit in 2014 to advance to the NJCAA Northern District Tournament along with Iowa Western. This season, only one team from Region XI advances to the district tournament.
Indian Hills has a 12-4 record against the Tigers all-time in the Region XI Tournament, but MCC has won two straight. Three of the last four seasons the Tigers have advanced to the Region XI Championship game, but fell each time to Iowa Western, the defending NJCAA National Champions. The Reivers have won three of the last five national titles.
MCC is 9-10 all-time as the No. 3 seed and are 6-9 against the No. 2 seed in tournament action.
Along with Lopez, Austin Gridley (Fairfield, IA/Fairfield) has carried the Tigers on the mound down the stretch. The freshman tossed a complete game against Indian Hills last weekend, allowing just four hits but suffered a 2-1 loss. Gridley leads MCC with 46 strikeouts on the year. Thomas Sanchez (Onalaska, WI/Holmen) has provided a strong presence out of the bullpen and leads the Tigers with a 1.35 earned run average, allowing just three earned runs in 20 innings this year.
Engel Rosario (Santo Domingo, DR/Cenapec) has come on as of late as the freshman earned Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) Batter of the Week honors to close out the regular season. Rosario batted .400 last week and hit two home runs over the weekend against the Falcons. Bennett Lopez (Dorado, PR/PRBA) and Anderson Villarroel (Caracas, Venezuela/U.E. Santisima Caridad) lead the Tigers with batting averages of .347 and .322, respectively.
The Falcons boast this week's ICCAC Pitcher of the Week in Bryce Collins while Travis Neubeck has been a force on the mound, posting a 6-2 record on the year in 62.0 innings. As a team, Indian Hills is batting .304 this year, led by Kyle Keck's .339 average. Mitch Langer leads the conference with eight home runs while MCC's Rosario has hit seven this year.
A win against the Falcons will send the Tigers to a Saturday matchup against the winner of Iowa Western and Muscatine while an opening game loss will pit the Tigers against the loser of the Reivers and Cardinals at 5:00 PM on Friday.
Live coverage of all MCC games will be provided.
