The Master's baseball team found itself behind 12-2 after three innings but came from behind to beat Oregon Tech 13-12 Thursday at Lou Herwaldt Stadium.
The Mustangs (5-6) scored two in the first, four in the fifth, three in the sixth and four more in the eighth to get the 1-run win. TMU also out-hit the Owls 16-10.
"We talked about what it is to win pitch by pitch by pitch, and until the game is over that's our job," said TMU Head Coach
Monte Brooks. "I'm just really encouraged by how these guys rallied and stayed to winning pitch by pitch by pitch. You just peck away and get a couple here and get a big inning there and that's what we did."
The difference in the game may very well have come down to the arm of Eli McInturf. The sophomore came on in the fifth inning as The Master's fourth pitcher of the game and did what no other hurler could do -- shut down the Owls's bats.
Oregon Tech scored five in the second inning and seven in the third to break open a 12-2 lead. They did it with nine hits and took advantage of seven walks to score their runs.
That is until McInturf took the hill.
In his first appearance of the season, McInturf pitched 4.0 shutout innings, allowing just one hit while striking out four and walking one to get the first win of his collegiate career.
"It was special having Eli come in and just put up zeroes," Coach Brooks said. "He really picked us up and did an amazing job. He commanded two pitches. He kept them off balance and they could not square him up. he was special. An outstanding job."
McInturf's performance seemed to finally light the Mustangs' fire. After
Jack Drew knocked in two with a 2-run single in the bottom of the first, TMU could not get anyone to score until the fifth.
Ty Beck doubled to bring in
Zach Jenkins. That was followed by an
Isaiah Morales single to plate Beck. Drew then double to bring in Morales, followed by a Dylan Tagiuam groundout to bring Drew home to make it a 12-6 Oregon Tech lead.
After McInturf pitched a 3-up 3-down inning, Jenkins drove in
Scotty Pieper with an RBI single. That's when beck stepped up and crushed his sixth home run of the season to make it a 3-run difference.
With McInturf taking care of business on the bump, the Mustangs came to the bottom of the eighth inning.
Matt Lloyd hit a pinch hit single followed by a Pieper walk and a Jenkins single to load the bases. Beck walked to bring in one run before Morales got a base hit to center to score Pieper and Jenkins to tie the game at 12-12. One pitch later, a passed ball scored Beck with the winning run.
Emilio Morales then came on to pitch a 1-2-3 ninth inning to complete The Master's comeback and get his first save of the season.
Jenkins, Morales and Drew each finished the game with three hits while Beck and Pelayo each had two. Beck had four RBI while Morales and Drew each knocked in three.
The Master's will face Oregon Tech in a doubleheader on Friday with the first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m. at Lou Herwaldt Stadium.
