The Master's needed just three pitchers in their 6-1, 5-0 doubleheader sweep of the Bethesda University Flames Wednesday at Lou Herwaldt Stadium.
The Mustangs improved to 26-11 overall and go into a nine-day break on a high with the two wins.
Game One
Carson Knapp pitched a complete game (seven innings) to pick up his third win of the season in The Master's 6-1 win.
Knapp allowed only one run (unearned) on five hits while striking out three. He had a no-hitter going until the fifth inning when he allowed a two-out single.
The freshman out of nearby Saugus, Calif. had only allowed two hits until the seventh inning when the Flames scored their one run on three hits in the inning. Still, it was the third consecutive productive outing for Knapp.
"It was really good to see him throw down in the zone," said TMU Head Coach
Monte Brooks. "He got a lot of swings early, he had a low pitch count, a couple of two-out walks he knows weren't good but just a good outing for him."
The Mustangs scored in five of the six innings they batted.
Evan Banks' single to center scored
Austin Young in the first inning, which was followed an inning later by a
Will Batz single to left that scored
Conor Christiansen.
Then in the third,
Ty Beck belted a two-run home run to right to make it 4-0. It was the freshman's third round tripper of the year.
Conor Christiansen picked up his third RBI of the season in the sixth inning when his single to left scored
Cason Brownell.
But the story of this game was
Carson Knapp. In his last three appearances, Knapp has pitched 16.1 innings, giving up just one unearned run on 10 hits and striking out 10. During that stretch he has lowered his ERA from 6.50 to 3.41 and averaged less than 14 pitches per inning.
"It's just been great to see it," Brooks said. "He has stepped up when we have really needed some good pitching."
Game Two
J.T. Friesen threw six innings of scoreless baseball and
Evan Banks hit his 15th home run of the year as the Mustangs shutout the Flames 5-0.
Friesen allowed five hits in his 6.0 innings of work, striking out three.
Ryan Mathiesen pitched the seventh and final inning after Friesen has totalled 97 pitches in his outing.
"J.T. got better as he went," Brooks said. "It was good to see him command both sides of the plate. He had a high pitch count on Saturday so we didn't want to extend him (beyond 100 pitches), but he too had a lot of quick outs and that gave him an opportunity to go deeper in the game."
Banks got the scoring started in the bottom of the first with his two-run homer to left-center field. Banks now leads the team and the GSAC with his 15 home runs and his 56 RBIs ranks him No. 4 in the NAIA.
Miles Henderson knocked in Banks in the third inning, with Mathiesen's single in the fourth scoring
Owen Payn and
Tyler Grodell's single in the fifth scoring Brownell.
"We scored runs (in both games) and we had chances to blow it open but we didn't get that done," Brooks said. "We had bases loaded a couple of times and just fell short. I think the guys are pretty frustrated in that regard, but I do like that we scored most innings of both games. That put some pressure on (Bethesda)."
The Master's won't play again until Friday, April 14, when they host the Westmont Warriors for the final home series of the season. First pitch is at 2 p.m.
