—Photo by Paul DeCoursey Iowa Central’s Rodny Rodriguez takes a swing at Ed Barbour Field on Monday.

The Iowa Central baseball team earned another split with ICCAC rival Kirkwood here Monday afternoon at Ed Barbour Field.

After claiming the opening contest 3-2, the Tritons fell in 10 innings, 10-6.

Max Steffens had another strong outing on the mound, pitching a complete game four-hitter. Steffens, who has an earned run average under two, struck out four and walked just one.

“Max is just Max,” ICCC head coach Justin Meyer said. “We know what we are going to get out of him. He made a couple of mistakes and Kirkwood made him pay, but that was it. Other than about three bad pitches, he was on.”

Junior Aracena hit a home run, while Steven Calderon and Rodny Rodriguez each drove in a run. Kyle Snuttjer finished 2-for-2 with a run scored.

After falling behind 2-1, Iowa Central (24-13 overall, 10-6 in league) plated a pair of runs in the fourth as Aracena hit his solo homer and Rodriguez drove in Snuttjer.

“We’ve got some guys hitting their way out of batting slumps,” Meyer said. “Hopefully, they’ll continue to do that.

The nightcap was a wild affair, as the Tritons struck first to go up 3-0 and led 6-3 heading into the seventh before the Eagles (25-12, 7-5) rallied to tie it and force extras.

“We out-played Kirkwood for six innings, but after that, they made us pay for our mistakes,” Meyer said. “We just couldn’t recover.”

Felix Martinez, Nick Boys and Calderon all had two hits in the loss, with Boys driving in a pair. Martinez, Fran Diaz and Rodriguez each scored two runs.

Iowa Central finishes out its lengthy home stand Tuesday vs. Indian Hills at 2 p.m. They head out for four games in Boone vs. DMACC this Saturday and Sunday before returning home to conclude the year with 10 consecutive.