The Master's University baseball team lost Saturday's first game to Arizona Christian, 7-5, but responded with a resounding 11-1 victory in the second half of the doubleheader to earn a series split to begin Golden State Athletic Conference play.
"On the road against a very good team, we were in every game with a chance to be successful. I'm very thankful for that," Master's head coach
Monte Brooks said. "I'm really encouraged about how we are improving and I'm very excited about how we played today."
To start the first game, a
Joshua Lee RBI-groundout in the top of the first put the Mustangs on the board. ACU responded with two runs, one each in the bottom of the first and second, to take the lead.
A four-run fifth inning restored TMU's advantage, with
Brock Bell hitting a bases-clearing double.
Ryan Bricker then added an RBI-single to put Master's ahead, 5-2.
That score stood until the bottom of the eighth, when the Firestorm put up a five-spot to take the lead and score the final runs of the game.
The unfortunate turn of events to end the first game did not affect the Mustangs in the second game, with TMU taking an early 2-0 advantage in the top of the first. A
Joe Terlizzi fielder's choice scored
Will Batz, with Bell then scoring on the throw.
Brayden Luft scored on a wild pitch in the fifth, before the Mustangs exploded for eight runs in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
"We finally got to their starter in the second game," Brooks said. "We had him on the ropes earlier and didn't get some runs that we thought we should've gotten. We had a runner on second with no outs and didn't score, but big innings usually win and we were able to do that."
A Terlizzi single,
Byron Smith walk and
Miles Henderson hit by pitch scored one run each to start TMU's sixth-inning rally.
Will Batz then cleared the bases with a three-RBI triple, with Bell doubling to score him.
Joel Zastrocky rounded out the Mustangs' scoring when he crossed home plate on a wild pitch.
Alec Akins pitched a complete seven-inning game, only conceding one run in the final inning, striking out four without walking a batter. That followed up
Aidan Stout's seven-inning, six-strikeout and no-walk outing in the first game.
"We had two excellent pitching performances today by Aidan and Alec," Brooks said. "They were fantastic. We probably went a little too long with Aidan but we wanted to give him a chance because he really wanted it. Unfortunately, we couldn't hold the lead. We fell short but played two really clean games."
After three-straight weekends on the road, Master's (16-10 overall, 2-2 GSAC) returns home to Lou Herwaldt Stadium next weekend to take on Ottawa University Arizona (10-12, 0-0) in GSAC play. The four-game series begins on Friday at 11 a.m.
Interested in playing for TMU? Fill out a recruiting questionnaire.
