SWCC baseball falls to Indian Hills

Southwestern dropped four straight across Friday and Monday, falling to Indian Hills twice on both days.

With a strong effort on the bump in game one, the Spartans couldn’t piece together enough at the plate in a 3-0 loss.

“We had three good pitching performances in game one,” said head coach Kenny Namanny. “We’re just kind of banged up offensively. We’re missing some of our best swingers.”

Ronnie Wigginton pitched six strong innings for Southwestern, striking out two while allowing only one earned run. He was relieved by Qunicy Collier, who pitched the final frame for the Spartans.

SWCC’s batting average leader, Frank Sanchez, who’s has been battling a finger injury, according to Namanny and did not play in the series. Ryan Doran also did not play in the series.

Both are the only members of the team to have 20 or more RBI on the season.

“We’ve been having some trouble trying to manufacture runs,” said Namanny. “We were fortunate to scratch across nine in the second game but it’s tough to get things rolling.”

In game two, the Spartans put up nine runs, including putting up a five spot in the bottom of the seventh. The late rally wasn’t enough for SWCC to get the win as it fell 11-9.

Cade Cox put together a solid day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double and a two-run homer. Raul Cosme and Brian Soto also drove in two runs.

“We competed well,” said Namanny. “(Indian) Hills is a very talented ballclub so we may have been swept, but we competed I’m pretty pleased with that.”

In game three the Spartans again struggled to plate a run, only getting three hits in the contest.

A first inning run on a Soren Graversen RBI double was all Indian Hills needed to have control of the game to the end.

SWCC’s Elier Santana went six full innings, striking out three and walking two. He allowed one earned run.

“We’re trying to do the best we can with what we have at this point,” said Namanny. “The guys are trying to compete as well as we can and I think we did that all weekend.”

Game four was perhaps the most competitive game for the Spartans, despite the 6-5 loss.

A three-run inning in the top of the third put Southwestern ahead 3-1, with Cox driving in one and Chris Palomo driving in two on a base hit in the left-center gap.

The 3-1 lead was held going into Indian Hills’ final at-bats and had SWCC poised to get away with a win in the final contest of the series.

The Falcons drove in one on an RBI double and found their way to a bases loaded, one out opportunity.

Indian Hills’ Jet Weber capitalized on the chance to walk it off, hitting a walkoff grand slam to win the game 6-3.

Luis Diaz pitched the whole way for the Spartans, throwing 6 1/3 innings while striking out four and walking three.

“We kind of fell apart a little bit. We were very, very close to stealing one in that last game,” said Namanny. “We’re just doing the best we can right now.”

UP NEXT – The Spartans take on Marshalltown (10-27, 7-13) Saturday in the first of consecutive doubleheaders. First pitch Saturday comes at 1 p.m.

With the series being the final games before the postseason, Namanny knows that Marshalltown is rolling as winners of four of its last six games, including two against a good Iowa Western team.

“If we do the things we need to do, we’ll be right in it,” said Namanny. “Marshalltown is hot as of late. ... We’re aware of that and we’re up to that challenge and hoping to finish the regular season strong.”