Mustangs split with Spirit on day two of series

Six innings of one-run ball from Kameron Quitno in game one of Friday's doubleheader earned The Master's University baseball team a road split against Ottawa University Arizona, winning the first game 5-2 before dropping the second one 5-6.
 
"We pitched extremely well in the first game," Master's head coach Monte Brooks said. "I'm very impressed with our outing."
 
After giving up an RBI-single in the first inning, Quitno did not give up a run the rest of his outing, to earn his first win on the mound in his Mustang career. JoJo Penberthy pitched the final three innings, only giving up one unearned run while striking out two, to earn the save.
 
Will Batz provided most of the offense with a three-run homer, his second long ball of the season, to put Master's up 3-1 in the top of the fifth. Then in the seventh, Brock Bell knocked in the other two Mustang runs with a two-RBI single.
 
"Offensively we didn't have many hits, but we executed early in the game and that put us in position to capitalize on a couple key hits and get a little more of a cushion," Brooks said.
 
The victory marked the first road win of the season for Master's, which began the campaign with 14-straight home games.
 
In game two, TMU started fast with two runs in the first. However, OUAZ scored five in the fourth to take a three-run lead. A Batz RBI-triple scored Brayden Luft in the bottom of the fifth to bring Master's to within two, but the Spirit added another in the sixth to extend its lead back to three.
 
"We pitched decently in the second game," Brooks said. "We just couldn't get anything going offensively against a pretty good power pitcher, who threw 90-plus mph with a good slider. He kind of shut us down."
 
The Mustangs made it interesting in the top of the seventh, scoring twice off RBIs from Batz and Bell. However, OUAZ was able to get TMU to strand the bases loaded with two outs, preventing Master's from winning both games on the day.
 
"We rallied there at the end and had opportunities to drive runners in," Brooks said. "We were thankful for those opportunities, but we just have to get a little better at coming through in those situations."
 
In the two games on Friday, Batz hit 5-for-8 with three runs scored, two doubles, one triple, one home run and five RBIs. Batz has eight hits over the three games thus far against OUAZ.
 
The Spirit hold a 2-1 lead in the four-game series, which concludes on Saturday at 1 p.m. PST.