TMU completes weekend sweep to open season

TMU Baseball completed a season-opening three-game sweep of Providence Christian College by winning both ends of Saturday's doubleheader, 4-2 and 6-5.
 
"The pitching was great all day long," Master's Head Coach Monte Brooks said. "It was a good effort on the bump for all of our guys."
 
Nelson Schutte earned the win in game one, pitching five innings of two-run ball to go along with six strikeouts. Kameron Quitno came on in relief, pitching four shutout innings with five punch outs to record the save.
 
In the second game, Spencer Long only gave up one hit in four shutout innings of his own, while striking out six, to earn the win.
 
The pitching carried the team on a day in which the Mustang offense wasn't as opportunistic as it was in TMU's season opener on Friday.
 
"We had some production out of guys and drew some walks, but we didn't run the bases very well, therefore we didn't capitalize on some opportunities," Brooks said. "We didn't hit in the clutch as much as we did yesterday."
 
Evan Banks opened the scoring in the first game when he crossed the plate on a wild pitch in the third inning. He then batted two runners home in the fourth with a triple.
 
The Sea Beggars got two back in the top of the fifth, scoring on fielder's choices, to make it a one-run game.
 
Joshua Lee then added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI-single, doubling the Mustangs' lead.
 
After scoring four runs in the entire first game, it took just two innings of the second game for Master's to score the same number. TMU had three runners cross home plate in the first and one in the second.
 
The Mustangs scored three or more first-inning runs in two out of the three games of the series.
 
"We jumped on them early in the second game," Brooks said. "We were very patient at the plate and got ourselves in good position."
 
After Will Batz walked, Banks' double to left put runners on second and third with no outs. Batz then scored on a wild pitch before Austin Young's grounder plated Banks. Young made his way around the bases after stealing second and advancing to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Miles Henderson's groundout.
 
A Young sacrifice fly then scored another in the second, followed by a Lee RBI-groundout in the third.
 
Providence Christian got one back in the top of the fifth before a second Young sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth restored TMU's five-run lead.
 
It appeared to be smooth sailing for Master's at that point, with the Mustangs needing just three more outs to complete the sweep. But a defensive error prolonged the inning, as the Sea Beggars scored four unearned runs in the top of the seventh to get to within one.
 
Then with runners on first and third, Ethan Schmidt induced a game-ending strikeout to preserve the victory.
 
"We played very poorly defensively and that gave them some opportunities," Brooks said of his team that made a combined seven errors on Saturday. "We opened the door for them to stay in the games."
 
Master's (3-0 overall) will travel to Arizona next week to play four games as part of the Coach Calderone Invitational.
 
"The attitudes were good and we learned a lot this weekend," Brooks said. "We're looking forward to our road trip next week."