NIACC tops Iowa Central, 11-7
FORT DODGE - The NIACC baseball team topped Iowa Central 11-7 on Tuesday in an ICCAC contest at Ed Barbour Field.
NIACC received a pair of home runs from Cayden Nicoletto and a grand slam from Cody Kelly as the Trojans improved their overall record to 31-16 and their league mark to 18-11.
Kelly leads the Trojans with 18 home runs and Nicoletto is tied for third on the squad with 11 home runs. The 18 home runs by Kelly is tied for fourth on the school's all-time single-season list.
NIACC sits in a four-way tie for first place in the ICCAC withv four league games remaining. Others in the first-place logjam are Kirkwood, DMACC and Southeastern.
The top two seeds receive a first-round bye for the NJCAA Region XI tournament that is set for May 12-15 in Cedar Rapids.
Connor Wietgrefe (5-1) gained the win for the Trojans on Tuesday against the Tritons. Wietgrefe allowed five runs with five strikeouts and one walk in four innings of work.
Tuesday's game was tied at 5-5 after four innings and NIACC scored a single run in the fifth inning to take a 6-5 lead. The Trojans scored four runs in the sixth inning and pushed across a single run in the eighth inning.
Jaiden Mollett relieved Wietgrefe and logged four innings before giving way to Ryan Lambert, who pitched a scoreless ninth frame. Mollett gave up two runs with three strikeouts and two walks.
Nicoletto was 4 for 5 with four RBIs to power the Trojan offense. Logan Milene and Zach Zaetta both collected two hits.
NIACC, which has won 13 of its last 15 games, returns to action Wednesday at Ellsworth in a nine-inning single game, which starts at 1 p.m.
