The Master's University baseball team split a doubleheader on Friday in Santa Clarita, Calif., losing the first game 16-8, but taking the second off
Ty Beck's seventh inning walk-off homer that hit off the glove of the Owl outfielder and landed over the fence.
Game 1
TMU struggled out of the gate in the opening game on Friday, as Oregon Tech jumped on the Mustangs with four runs in the first two innings. OTU grew their lead to as many as five runs on an RBI single in the fifth inning.
However, TMU rallied, scoring six runs in the fourth inning. TMU loaded the bases and
Korbin Hodgson was hit by a pitch, scoring the Mustangs' first run. First baseman
Scotty Pieper delivered a 2-run single and Beck followed him with a bases-clearing 3-run double to give TMU the 6-5 advantage.
"In that first game, our offense was on point and put together a great performance," TMU Head Coach
Monte Brooks said.
But seven Mustang errors allowed the Owls to creep back into the ballgame. Seven of OTU's 16 runs were unearned as they scored nine runs total in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to seize control and take the win.
Jack Drew went 3 for 4 and reached base all five plate appearances with two runs scored to lead the Mustang offense.
Game 2
In the second game,
Zach Jenkins got TMU out in front with a lead off solo home run. However, in the very next inning, Jenkins hit the wall hard in pursuit of a well-hit line drive and the ball bounced off his glove and over the left-field wall for a 2-run homer which put the Owls in front 2-1.
Gage Webster took over for
Jace Russell after just 1.1 innings and pitched another gem to improve to 4-0. Webster went 5.2 innings, striking out five and allowing two runs on 96 pitches.
"I'm really encouraged by the way Gage battled today," Coach Brooks said. "He labored through some tough spots and gave us another great performance."
Webster's pitching gave TMU a shot to win it in the final inning after Drew's solo shot narrowed the gap down to just one.
Zac Heefner worked a key walk and
Owen Payn's stolen base and Jenkins' sacrifice moved the runner down to third with two outs.
Then up came Beck, who leads the NAIA in homers, and he quickly fell behind 0-2. But Beck blasted a fastball out to right field that hit off the defender's glove on the warning track and landed on Quigley Canyon Road, giving TMU the walk-off win.
"Ty is just another example of us battling and staying in it offensively," Coach Brooks said. "In all my years of coaching, I've never seen a game where the ball bounces off the fielder and gets out twice."
Beck went 2 for 4 with two runs batted in as TMU totaled three homers in that second game.
The Master's will compete next on Saturday at Lou Herwaldt Stadium against Oregon Tech in the final game of the series.
