Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 In a series that may very well decide the fourth and final team in the GSAC Baseball Championship tournament next month, The Master's split a pair of games with the Benedictine Mesa Redhawks Friday in Mesa, Ariz.
At the start of the day, the Mustangs held a 1-game lead over the Redhawks in the standings in fourth place. That 1-game lead remains in tact with Master's 9-9 in the GSAC and BenU 8-10.
Game 1
A comeback effort in the top of the eighth and ninth by the Mustangs was trumped by the Redhawks as Benedictine Mesa defeated Master's 9-8 in game one of the doubleheader.
The Mustangs got the scoring started in the top of the first inning when
Isaiah Morales doubled to right field with two outs. He was followed by
Emilio Morales with a single to center to bring in Isaiah.
After BenU tied the game in the bottom of the first, the Redhawks came back and scored two more in the third and another two in the fourth to go up 5-1.
TMU answered in the top of the fifth when
Zach Jenkins drew a bases-loaded walk to score
Ty Beck who led off the inning with a double.
Scotty Pieper then got hit by a pitch to plate
Isaiah Morales to draw Master's to within two.
Then in the top of the eighth,
Cole Rohlmeier's 2-out single scored Pieper and
Mikey Murr to tiw the game at 5-5. That was followed by a Beck single to score Rohlmeier to give The Master's the lead. Two of the three runs scored in the inning were unearned.
Benedictine Mesa answered right back by putting four on the board in the bottom half of the inning to go up 9-6.
But The Master's wasn't through.
With two outs in the top of the ninth and
Emilio Morales at second, Pieper singled to left to score Morales to cut the difference to two. Murr then stepped up and drilled a triple to center field to score Pieper and put the tying run just 90 feet away.
It was just the second triple hit by the Mustangs this season.
But a strikeout ended the threat, the inning and the ball game, with TMU coming up a run short.
Pieper and Murr led the team with three hits, while both Morales's, Beck, and Rohlmeier all had two hits in the game. Rohlmeier led the team with two RBI and
Isaiah Morales scored two runs.
Game 2
The Mustangs scored four runs in the top of the seventh to come-from-behind to win game two 7-6.
Rohlmeier led off the game with a single to right field, advancing to second when the ball was bobbled by the outfielder. Beck then singled to right to drive in Rohlmeier, followed by an
Isaiah Morales single to move Beck to second.
Three batters, three singles to start the game for Master's.
Emilio Morales then laid down a sac bunt to move both runners into scoring position.
Mikey Murr hit a flyball to left field that scored Beck to give the Mustangs a 2-0 lead.
That was answered by the Redhawks in the bottom of the first. But TMU regained the lead when Rohlmeier's second single of the game scored
Tommy Stanton for the 3-2 lead.
Again BenU answered with another run in the bottom half of the second, another in the bottom of the third, another in the bottom of the fourth and yet another in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-3 lead.
But then it happened.
In the top of the seventh, The Master's mounted a comeback.
Dylan Taguiam led off with a single. With
Owen Payn running for Taguiam,
Jack Drew then hit the team's second triple of the day, this one to centerfield to score Payn.
Two batters later and now one out, with
Michael Chung pinch running for Drew at third, Beck reached on an error by the BenU second baseman, scoring Chung to make it 6-5.
Ryder Frith-Smith came in to run for Beck, advancing to second on a passed ball.
Isaiah Morales then singled to center to score Frith-Smith to tie the game at 6-6.
Johan Pelayo came in to pinch run for Morales, when
Emilio Morales walked followed by a
Mikey Murr single to load the bases. Pieper then drew a walk to bring across Pelayo to give The Master's a 7-6 lead.
Jace Russell then came on in the bottom of the seventh to get a pair of strikeouts and a flyball out to get his second save of the season and salvage a split with the Redhawks.
Danny Slaske will get his first collegiate win of his career as he came on in relief in the sixth inning.
Rohlmeier,
Isaiah Morales and
Dylan Taguiam each had a pair of hits to lead TMU. For Morales, he now has a 14-game hit streak and an 11-game multi-hit streak.
The two teams will complete their 4-game series with a doubleheader Saturday starting at 11 a.m. The game will be played at Apache Junction High School.
