IOWA FALLS, IOWA -- Ellsworth scored 50 runs and rapped out 56 hits in winning two-of-three games with Southwestern CC over the weekend. The Panthers bounced back after a 13-12 loss in the series opener to win by scores of 20-16 and 18-11.
ECC trailed 9-0 after an inning and a half in the first game and was down 13-8 before making things interesting with a 4-run uprising in the bottom of the 7th, but the rally fell a run short. Ellsworth had 14 hits and 8 went for extra bases. Elio Narvaez and Fabian Dumey both homered and doubled, Daviel Camacho had 2 doubles and Nick Chasey 1 and Zeb Wede added a triple. Wede and Narvaez had 3-hit games and Dumey stroked 2 hits and scored three times and Wede provided 4 RBIs. Narvaez, who was the losing pitcher, knocked in 3 runs.
Ellsworth tallied 6 runs in the 1st inning and 7 in the 2nd in Saturday's 2nd game and led 13-2 after 2 innings. The Panthers' 20 runs and 24 hits were both season-highs. Narvaez had 4 more hits, giving him 7 for the doubleheader. Wede, Jose Valentine and JT Kostenbauer all had 3 hits and Javier Melendez and and Dumey had 2 each. Eight of the nine starters scored at least 2 runs and Bryce Hall, Valentine and Dumey had 3 RBIs each. Jonathan Rosado started and lasted 3 1/3 innings. Evan Whitham pitched an inning and Edwin De Los Santos had his best pitching performance of the season to earn the win. He threw 4 2/3 innings and allowed 4 hits and 2 earned runs, striking out 3 while earning his first win of the spring.
On Sunday, at Cadet Field, ECC pushed across 3 runs in the 2nd and 6 more in the 3rd, yet found itself behind 10-9 after 3 1/2 innings in the 9-inning contest. The Panthers got untracked for 5 runs in the 5th and another 4 in the 7th to pull ahead. The big hitters were Valentine, who was 5-for-6 with 3 runs, 4 RBIs, a homer and a double, and Melendez, who went 4-for-6 with a triple and 3 runs. Daviel Camacho contributed a 3-run home run, Narvaez and Kostenbauer had 2-hit games and Isaac Boley knocked in 2 runs. Dumey and Kostenbauer each scored three times. Starter Cade Armstrong was replaced by Jason Moist, who came on in the 4th inning and went the rest of the way. Moist, coming off a 6-inning shutout performance 3 days earlier against NIACC, gave up only one earned run and six hits in his 5 2/3 innings and struck out 8 without walking anyone.
The Panthers hope to use the series victory against the Spartans as momentum heading into the final week of the regular season, that starts with a single contest against NIACC on Wednesday.