TMU Baseball squanders chances against No. 9 Vanguard University

TMU Baseball, receiving votes in the latest NAIA Coaches' Poll, had its chances to win a four-game series against No. 9 Vanguard University inside Lou Herwaldt Stadium, but had to settle for just a single win on Saturday.
 
Four Mustangs homered in Saturday's game one 12-7 victory, with Evan Banks and Austin Young going back-to-back in the bottom of the first, both hitting balls onto Quigley Canyon Road beyond the right-field fence.
 
After the Lions tied the game with a three-run jack in the top of the fourth, Master's scored nine unanswered runs. Four of those runs came off a pair of two-run homers from Will Batz and Miles Henderson, with Master's hitting four of its nine homers on the season in just one game.
 
It was a needed response after a disheartening ending to Friday's game one and the continuation of Friday's game two on Saturday morning.
 
Both contests went to extra innings, with Master's falling 9-10 after 10 innings in the first game of the series before dropping the second one, 2-3, in eight innings after being originally scheduled for seven.
 
TMU trailed 7-1 in the first game, but scored seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, all with two outs, to take its first lead. Joe Terlizzi, Young and Nolan Inouye all had two-RBI hits to spark the two-out rally.
 
After Vanguard tied it up in the top of the next inning, Henderson's RBI-single in the bottom of the eighth restored the Mustangs' lead entering the ninth.
 
Master's was one out away from opening the series with an impressive comeback win, only for the Lions to hit a solo shot to extend the game.
 
The Lions then held serve in the bottom of the ninth to force extras, before they tacked on the go-ahead run in the 10th, the sixth-straight inning they scored in.
 
Batz tripled to lead off the bottom of the 10th, but a pair of groundouts to the pitcher and a grounder to short stranded the tying run 90 feet from home.
 
In game two, Zachary Filos put together a quality start, pitching seven innings of two-run ball on Friday. He only got two runs of support though, before the Lions were able to tie the game with a run in the top of the seventh.
 
After singles from Terlizzi and Kobe Katayama to open the bottom half of the inning, Kameron Quitno's sacrifice bunt advanced runners into scoring position and put the game-winning run at third. But Vanguard induced back-to-back Master's strikeouts, sending the game to extras.
 
The game had to first be suspended because of darkness, and was resumed at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
 
After pitching seven innings on Friday, Filos returned to the bump the next morning. The Lions were able to score the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth on a softly hit single, with the Mustangs unable to get much going in the bottom half other than a Banks base hit.
 
Following the disappointing ending to the first two games, Saturday's game one victory gave Master's a chance to earn a series split with a win in the final game. However, the Lions developed a 5-0 lead and scored in five out of seven innings to claim the series with a 12-6 victory.
 
Young and Banks each hit RBI-doubles, but the Mustangs weren't able to keep pace with an explosive Lion offense.
 
TMU (17-12 overall, 7-9 GSAC) takes a break from GSAC play with a non-conference series against Bethesda University on Friday and Saturday inside Lou Herwaldt Stadium.