NORTHEAST MOVES TO 30 WINS ON THE SEASON WEDNESDAY OVER NO. 8 IOWA CENTRAL

NORFOLK, Neb. – The Northeast Community College baseball team welcomed No. 8 Iowa Central Community College to Norfolk Veterans Memorial Baseball Field in Norfolk Wednesday for a single nine-inning contest. The Hawks took the victory by a final score of 9-8 to improve to 30-12 on the campaign.

Northeast (30-12, 14-6 ICCAC) jumped all over the Tritons early with five runs in the first inning and another in the second. Harrison Taubert and Taylor Gill (Orem, Utah) both continued their hot streaks of late as Taubert blasted his third home run in the last three showdowns in the bottom of the first inning and Gill launched his third homer of the last four matchups in the bottom of the second inning.

Gabe Rodriguez (Thornton, Colo.) got the start for the Hawks and the freshman only allowed one earned run over four innings of work. Iowa Central rallied for five runs of their own in the fourth inning and three in the sixth inning to tighten the ballgame up, but that would be the closest that they would come to snatching the win. Gage Ingram (LaVista, Neb.) climbed the hill for the final two innings on the mound for Northeast and allowed only one hit, no earned runs and struck out four batters as the Hawks captured the crucial ICCAC battle.

STAT SHEET:

Harrison Taubert (Casper, Wyo.): 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R

Taylor Gill (Orem, Utah): 2-5, HR, RBI, 2 R, SB

Gabe Rodriguez (Thornton, Colo.): 4 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 K

HEAR FROM THE HAWKS COACH:

Head baseball coach Marcus Clapp on the massive ICCAC triumph today:

"We came out and we were aggressive," Clapp said. "We put up some runs on them and got ahead. We pitched well today except for two innings. In those two innings we gave away too many free bases. That's how they stuck around. We have to address the walks. You can't give anyone free bases, let alone the number eight team in the country."

Clapp on what it means for the program to hit the 30-win mark again:

"We set goals and we are close to achieving our goals," Clapp said. "Thirty wins in a season is phenomenal. We have more games to go. Like I keep saying, it's all about making sure that we continue to get better and are playing good ball at the end of the year. We have a really tough stretch ahead, so we have to keep playing the right way and doing the things that we are capable of doing."

Clapp on the upcoming series with NIACC:

"We have to show up," Clapp said. "It's a tough place to play. The wind blows out there a lot. It's a short porch. We are going to have to pitch the ball. They have really good arms, and we are going to have to show up and try and win another series."

UP NEXT:

The Hawks will hit the road this weekend for a three-game set with North Iowa Area Community College beginning with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday in Mason City, Iowa.

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