CRESTON, IOWA -- The Ellsworth CC baseball team put together an impressive early-season sweep of Southwestern CC over the weekend, winning doubleheaders against the Spartans on their home diamond. The Panthers prevailed 4-3 and 8-4 on Friday and came back with 5-4 and 7-4 victories Saturday, the first game in eight innings. ECC knocked out 38 hits in the four games and got strong pitching outings in every game in improving their season record to 7-5, a mark that features six wins in their last seven games.
"Every game was full of highlights," according to Ellsworth head coach Samuel Vega. "A lot of things went well. We had great starts from all our starters and our bullpen was lights out."
Ellsworth came from behind to claim Friday's first game, going ahead 4-3 with two runs in the 5th inning and tacking on an insurance run in the top of the 6th. ECC's offense featured two-hit games by Javier Melendez, Trey Morris, Carlos Aranda and Jake Kostenbauer. Morris and Victor Lara each drove in two runs and Melendez, Morris, Aranda and Kostenbauer scored the runs. There were doubles by Morris, Aranda, Lara and Bryce Hall. Zach Carlsen started on the mound for the Panthers and gave up four hits and two earned runs in his four innings, striking out six and walking two. Elio Narvaez fired two shutout innings in relief and picked up the victory, fanning four without allowing a hit. Cooper Johnson took over in the 7th and garnered the save with a perfect inning.
In game two, Ellsworth jumped out to a a quick 8-0 lead after 2 1/2 innings and rolled to the win behind the pitching of Miguel Baez and Matt Nolan. Baez struck out nine in his four innings and Nolan whiffed another five in three frames while permitting just an unearned run. The offense included a double by Ybrahim Quevedo, who had two RBIs, a triple from Aranda and a home run by Zeb Wede, who scored two times and had two hits.
A run in the top of the 8th won Saturday's opening contest for ECC which took an early 3-0 lead in the 1st and got the 'W' after SWCC tied the score at 4-all in the bottom of the 6th. Aranda and Lara had a couple of RBIs each and Melendez drove in the other run. Wede scored twice and he, Aranda and Hall all doubled. Melendez, Morris and Lara had two hits apiece. Charlie Jaeger, Narvaez, Isaac Rohde and Johnson combined on the mound. Jaeger, the starter, threw five solid innings and gave up only three hits and one earned run. Narvaez, pitching out of the bullpen for the second day in a row, gave the Panthers one inning as did Rohde, who picked up the victory, and Johnson got his second save in as many days
Jason Moist, Alejandro Carrasquillo and Broderick Bittle did the pitching in the nightcap. Moist went five and struck out six without walking anyone for his first win of the year. Bittle earned the save with two innings of work. Fabian Dumey and Aranda were the hitting stars for the Panthers. Dumey had three hits and three RBIs and Aranda got two hits, scored three times and drove in a run. Wede, Lara, Hall and Jacoby Endreas also had hits with Hall and Endreas both slugging doubles. ECC pushed across three runs in the top of the 1st and extended a 4-3 advantage with one run in the 6th and two more the next inning and completed the sweep.
"Our guys have worked extremely hard since the day they showed up on campus last fall," said coach Vega. "It was good seeing them put it all together for a full series. With conference play starting this week we hope we can carry the momentum from this weekend."
The Panthers are slated to play a doubleheader at Marshalltown CC Wednesday, weather permitting, and then head to Iowa Western for four games this Saturday and Sunday.