CENTERVILLE - The Indian Hills Community College baseball team rose to the occasion while facing elimination at the Region XI Tournament on Sunday before falling in the regional championship on Monday afternoon.

After falling to Iowa Western 16-2 on Saturday, the Falcons battled back through the consolation bracket, eliminating Marshalltown CC 8-4 before holding on for a 4-3 victory over ninth-ranked Iowa Western on Sunday, forcing a regional championship matchup against Iowa Western on Monday.

IHCC was fueled by outstanding pitching performances from Denver Walker, Adam Graves, Dustin Northcott and Jamie Matos on Sunday.

Walker allowed just two earned runs over 6 1/3 innings with Graves throwing the final 2 2/3 innings against Marshalltown.

Northcott shut down the heavily-favored Iowa Western Reivers offense, striking out seven and allowed just one earned run during 6 2/3 innings of work. Jamie Matos closed the door on the Reivers, scattering two hits and striking out four in 2 1/3 innings on the mound.

Jon Piche paced the IHCC offense against Marshalltown, going 3-for-3 while Roderick Barcelo was 2-for-4 with a double and three runs batted in for the Falcons.

Piche, Barcelo, Christian Rivera and Nelcicio York recorded two hits each at the plate against Iowa Western. Josean Padilla also played a big role in the IHCC offense, going 1-for-1 with two runs scored in the contest.

The Falcons came back less than 24 hours later and battled Iowa Western again, this time in a winner-take-all regional championship contest.

IHCC committed five errors in the second inning, which led to a nine-run outburst by Iowa Western as the Reivers owned a 10-1 lead after one and one-half innings of play.

The Falcons came back with an outburst of their own, scoring 10 unanswered runs over the next four innings to grab an improbable 11-10 lead after five innings of play.

Iowa Western came back strong with four runs in the sixth and four runs in the seventh, building an 18-11 advantage through seven innings. IHCC added four late runs as the Reivers held on for a wild 22-15 victory.

The story of the contest for Indian Hills was defense, as the Falcons committed 11 errors during the nine-inning game.

Piche stayed hot on offense for the Falcons, getting five hits in six at-bats with a double and two runs batted in. Piche wrapped up the tournament as IHCC’s top hitter, going 11-for-19 during the regional tournament.

Carlos Zayas had a big day at the plate in his final game in a Falcon uniform, recording three hits in six at-bats, including two doubles and four runs scored.

Travis Whitmore had three hits while Rivera, Baum, Luke Stamp and Jose Marin added two hits each for Indian Hills.