TREYNOR, IOWA -- The Ellsworth CC baseball team had a long day, but a productive one on Saturday as they dueled Southwestern CC in an ICCAC tripleheader.  The two teams opted to fit all 3 games of their weekend series into one day at the Treynor High School field because of the threat of inclement weather on Sunday.  The Panthers rolled to a 10-1 win in the opener, lost a 4-3 decision in the middle contest, then outlasted the Spartans, 9-7, in the final game, which went 12 innings, making a long day of baseball even longer.

ECC got things started with a 5-run 2nd inning in game one and added 2 runs in the 3rd, 2 more in the 5th and a single run in the 7th.  Tanner Short paced the offense with two doubles and a home run, knocking in 3 runs and scoring twice.  Jose Valentin and Jean Melean both singled and doubled and Melean swiped 2 bases.  Jose Roche had a double and Nick Chasey produced a single and 2 runs scored.  Derihan Suero gave Ellsworth its best starting pitching effort of the spring, allowing only 4 hits and one run in 6 innings while striking out 6.  Evan Becker finished up with a perfect inning of relief.  "We came out in game one and threw strikes," said ECC head coach Kirk Clark.  "Having quick innings in the field lets us be more aggressive on the offensive side."

Southwestern broke a 3-3 tie with a solo homer in the bottom of the 5th to take the 2nd game.  Nick Chasey provided a solo home run for ECC, Sergio Natera stroked a single and a double and scored once and Kristian Crespo scored the other Ellsworth run.  Jaden Morris began the game on the mound and went 3 2/3 innings.  He gave up 4 hits and fanned 6.  Kaden Stewart followed with 2 1/3 innings and struck out 4.  He took the loss.  The Ellsworth coach said, "Game two was a good battle, we ultimately gave up too many free bases to win."

The last game was a marathon which ECC began by tallying a pair of runs in each of the first 2 innings.  The score was 5-5 after 6 in a contest that was slated for 9 innings.  In extra innings, the Panthers won it by pushing across 3 runs in the top of the 12th.  Short slugged his 2nd homer of the day and 4th of the season and drove in 3 runs.  Natera had 3 hits and Short, Melean and Crespo all had 2-hit games.  Crespo scored three times and Natera and Short twice each.  The Panthers used 6 pitchers and they combined for 13 walks and 19 Ks.  Starter George Hansen threw 3 1/3 innings and set the pace with zero earned runs allowed and 4 strikeouts.  Hansen was followed to the hill by Hadniel Payamps, Dane Littell, Logan Fragomeni, Will Johnson and Jake English.  Johnson got the win, going 5 shutout innings with 8 punchouts and 7 walks.  English permitted an unearned run in the 12th, but notched the save.  Clark summarized the final game saying, "I told the guys game 3 is going to be whoever wants it more.  It was the first game where we overcame adversity and came back and won.  I'm very proud of how we competed."

The Panthers are now 8-9 and host Indian Hills CC on Wednesday.