FORT DODGE, IOWA -- The Ellsworth CC baseball team saw their season come to a close at the conclusion of a 3-game series with Iowa Central CC.  The Panthers lost all 3 games to the Tritons and failed to qualify for the Region XI postseason tournament, finishing 7th in the Division II standings.

The last series of the spring started with an Iowa Central win in Iowa Falls on Saturday, 14-4, and ended with a doubleheader on Iowa Central's home diamond Sunday, ICCC winning both games, 7-5 and 10-1.

Iowa Central scored 4 times in the top of the 1st in the Saturday contest and added 6 runs in the 5th inning while swatting 5 home runs in the game.  Jose Valentin went 4-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI for ECC and Alexis Ruiz was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run.  Each had a double.  Jose Roche and Luke Saxton scored the other Ellsworth runs and Sergio Natera and Jean Melean drove in runs.  Derihan Suero started on the mound and lasted 4 1/3 innings.  Jake English, Memphis Moore and Evan Becker followed in relief.

ECC got 3 runs in the top of the 7th in the middle game of the series, but the rally came up short.  Valentin provided a pair of hits and 3 RBIs.  Tanner Short and Natera had the other RBIs and each had two hits.  Ruiz also had a 2-hit game and scored two times.  Starter Logan Fragomeni got 3 outs and was relieved by Will Johnson, who threw 3 scoreless innings.  Kaden Stewart finished up.

Short drove in Melean with the only run scored by ECC in the series and season finale.  The Panthers managed 6 hits, 2 by Valentin, who ended the series with 8 hits.  George Hansen got the start and threw 2 shutout innings.  After Hansen, 6 Ellsworth pitchers each went one inning.  Jaden Morris, Connor Cox, Ethan Whitham, Kenyon Santos, Moore and Dane Littell were used out of the bullpen.

The Panthers ended the year with an 18-29 record.