Great pitching and clutch hitting combined to give The Master's a pair of one-run wins over No. 17 Vanguard on a windy Saturday afternoon at Lou Herwaldt Stadium.
Game 1
The Mustangs (8-2, 2-1) scored six unanswered runs and came from five down to win the first game 6-5.
The Lions scored one in the second and then four in the third to jump out to a 5-0 lead. But
Ryan Mathiesen's two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth cut the difference to three.
Then in the seventh,
Conor Christiansen doubled to left field to score
Ty Beck to make it 5-3.
An inning later TMU came up with the clutch hits when first Mathiesen doubled to left to score
Nolan Inouye, followed by an RBI single by Christiansen that scored
Austin Young and an RBI groundout by
Cason Brownell to score
Tommy Stanton for the game-winner.
"We pecked away and then strung together the big inning there," said TMU Head Coach
Monte Brooks. "These last two weekends we've clutched up much better on the offensive end."
Gage Webster got the start on the hill for The Master's, giving up five runs (all earned) on nine hits in 4.0 innings.
Cale Mathison followed with 3.0 innings of scoreless work, giving up just one hit and striking out three.
Ryan Shalkevich pitched a perfect inning in the eighth to get the win, and Mathiesen closed it out in the ninth for his third save of the season.
"(Gage) actually threw pretty good, despite how it looks," Brooks said. "He had a couple of things that didn't go our way (defensively), which gave (Vanguard) some extra at bats and so they capitalized on that and had the big inning. I was really encouraged with Cale's performance. He kept us right in it and had a great outing."
Game 2
J.T. Friesen pitched 6.0 innings without allowing a run and only gave up four hits while striking out five in the 1-0 Mustangs' win.
The seven-inning game remained tied 0-0 until the bottom of the seventh when
Kobe Katayama singled to start The Master's half of the inning.
Davis Beavers then showed bunt but slapped a single into center field, sending Katayama safely to third.
Tommy Gwinn then hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Katayama to win the game.
Both starting pitchers threw 6.0 innings of scoreless baseball. Mathiesen came on in the seventh, not allowing a run or a hit and striking out one, to get the win.
"I was really pleased with our offense in the second game," Brooks said. "We hit some balls hard, we just didn't have anything fall. Two balls would have been home runs on a non-windy day."
After dropping the series opener to Vanguard on Friday, the Mustangs get the series win over the Lions.
"They are a very good club with excellent pitching, and they have already beat two top 10 teams (Texas Wesleyan and Bellevue)," Brooks said. "I think that puts us in the category of right up there with the good ones. It's believing it, that's what's key."
The Master's will have both Providence Christian College and the University of British Columbia at Lou Herwaldt Stadium beginning Thursday for a series of five games. It starts with TMU hosting the UBC Thunderbirds Thursday at 2 p.m.
Â
