There were varying takes on what ailed The Master's University baseball team this weekend when the Mustangs lost three out of four games against Hope International in Fullerton.
Shortstop
Tyler Van Marter didn't sense the same level of energy amongst the Mustangs as he had when the team began the year by winning 12 of its first 15 games.
Pitcher
Adam Rubio believed Master's struggled to get out of its own way in winnable games.
Head coach
Monte Brooks watched as Hope International pitchers dominated for stretches, including most of Saturday when the Royals won 7-3 and 9-2.
There was agreement, however, on how Master's (13-6, 4-4 GSAC) would respond.
"I have no doubt we'll bounce back from it," said Van Marter, who's home run in Game 2 was the first of his Master's career.
Van Marter has been TMU's most consistent hitter, registering a .377 average through 19 games. He had an extra base hit in every game this weekend.
Rubio provided another bright spot on a day filled with rain. Saturday's first contest was pushed back three hours due to the weather, starting at 5 p.m. with the double-header continuing late into the night.
Rubio pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, striking out five. The damage had already been done, though. The Mustangs trailed 9-1 when Rubio entered the game.
"This series is going to make us self-reflect a little bit," Rubio said. "We beat ourselves. We were trying to do a little too much instead of keeping it simple and sticking to the fundamentals. We will take this as a learning experience for sure and grow from it."
Rubio's wasn't the weekend's only strong relief performance.
Connor Dreyer threw three near perfect innings late in the series opener to preserve a 6-5 TMU win on Friday. The Mustangs lost in heartbreaking fashion later that night.
And though things didn't turn around Saturday,
Cameron Jones pitched three innings of scoreless relief in Game 1.
Will Batz,
Roy Verdejo and
Ryan Bricker each had two hits for the Mustangs.
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