Mustangs drop both games to the Eagles

The Master's University baseball team lost the season series to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (AZ) after taking 25-5 and 6-5 losses in the doubleheader match up at Prescott, Ariz. Saturday afternoon.

Entering the game, the Mustangs (19-11, 5-7) sat at third in the GSAC standings and looked to challenge the Eagles (9-20, 5-1), who themselves sit in second. But after Saturday's games, the Mustangs now sit in fifth, as several conference opponents climb the season standings.

Game 1

The Mustangs were left blank for seven innings and allowed 12 runs in the fifth enroute to their 25-5 loss.

The first inning saw the Mustangs in a 2-1 lead, with Austin Young scoring off a Ty Beck double, then Beck returning home after a single by Jacob Kowes. But in the bottom of the second, the Eagles recorded five runs, two coming from a home run, to take a 6-2 lead.

But the Mustangs offense was left blank, getting two hits and no runs from the second to eighth innings. It wasn't until the ninth inning when they finally broke the drought, as Ethan Schmidt and Matt Lloyd made it home from singles while Jacob Drew came home from a wild pitch.

Carson Knapp started for the Mustangs and was given the loss, allowing seven hits, eight runs and throwing three strikeouts in 3.0 innings. J.T. Frieson came on in relief, allowing seven hits and nine runs while pitching 1.1 innings. 

Four of Frieson's runs came in the fifth inning alone, as the Eagles collected 12 runs and the Mustangs needed three pitchers. Robert York was called in, allowing five hits and six runs, before Elijah McInturf came on for 2.1 innings while only allowing three hits and one run.

Casey LaCroix finished up for the Mustangs, allowing one hit and one run in his 1.0 inning assignment.

Game 2

The Mustangs tied the game on four different occasions but never saw the lead, as they fell to the Eagles in a tough 6-5 loss.

Carson Ohl started and picked up the loss, pitching a complete game for the Mustangs. He allowed 11 hits and six runs while throwing eight strikeouts in his 7.0 inning assignment.

The Mustangs refused to go down quietly, as they always found ways to tie things up and keep the game close.

When the Mustangs fell to a 1-0 deficit in the first, Cason Brownell fired a home run to tie things up. When the Mustangs fell to a 2-1 deficit in the second, pinch runner Owen Payn came home from a single by Beck to tie it up again.

When the Mustangs fell to a 4-2 deficit in the third, shortstop Tommy Gwinn hit a home run in the fourth while Beck returned home in the fifth from a Brownell single to tie it up again. And when the Mustangs fell to a 5-4 deficit in the sixth, a single by Kowes brought Payn home for a 5-5 tie.

But with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, the Eagles squeaked out a walk-off single to get a runner home and to give the Mustangs a 6-5 loss.

With their two losses to the Eagles, the Mustangs now sit in fifth in the GSAC standings. But the Mustangs are slated to play against Ottawa University (AZ), one of the two teams that climbed the standings. 

The Mustangs will play the first of two doubleheaders against the Spirit at Lou Herwaldt Stadium on Friday, with the first game starting at 11 a.m.