By Blake Meacham–The Morningside baseball team lost its first game of the 2016 season on Friday night due to a hit parade put on by the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes. When the final out was recorded, the scoreboard read 14-1.
The double digit run total for Wesleyan came from the large amount of extra base hits tallied. In the end, the Coyotes hit five doubles, two triples, and one home run. The Mustangs had no doubles, triples, or home runs to account for.
Cody Selig was handed the pitching loss, while Brandon Wescher recorded the win for Wesleyan. The Mustangs turned their luck around the in first game of a double header against the Coyotes on Saturday. It was an almost the same exact game as the night before, with the winning and losing team swapping places.
The Mustangs recorded 17 runs on 21 hits, while holding the Coyotes to 6 runs on 7 hits. Nate Dechaine, Blake Rogers, and Joe Tourville each recorded three hits, while K.J. Herbert and Alex Marrujo each added 4 hits to their own season totals.
“It was a complete turn around from the night before,” said center fielder Jake Lamoreux, who was 1-1 with a single and four walks in the game.
“If we play like that every game, we’ll be a dangerous team all year,” said Lamoreux.
Doug Vanecek was the winning pitcher for the Mustangs, while Joseph Hernandez-Eto was given the loss.
The second act of the double header resulted in another loss for the Mustangs, due to a 4-2 final score favoring the Coyotes. The scoring started with a single by Nate Dechaine that brought home Jake Lamoreux in the top of the first. However, the Coyotes responded quickly by adding their own run in the bottom of the first.
The Coyotes opened up the game in the bottom of the third by hanging a crooked number on the scoreboard, recording a three run outburst thanks to a pair of doubles and singles.
The Mustangs didn’t score again until the 6th inning thanks to a sacrifice fly by Cole Chapin, which brought home Lamoreux. Blake Meacham pinch hit with two outs in the top of the 6th inning with runners on first and second with the score at 4-2, but lined out to the center fielder to end the threat. Jared Sorenson was dealt the loss, giving up 4 runs, while only three of them were earned. Cameron Clements was given the win for the Coyotes.
“It was not the kind of weekend we wanted and it’s definitely not what we were expecting,” said reliever Jared Novotny, “but we saw a lot of good things happen that we can be positive about.”
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