By Blake Meacham–The Morningside baseball team won their first five games before dropping their final two games in Los Angeles last week. The Mustangs arrived in California on Saturday, March 5th, but didn’t play their first game until Tuesday the 8th due to rainy weather.
“In LA, it hardly ever rains, and when it does, it’s not very much. Unfortunately, the beginning of the week had some of the rainiest days LA had experienced in the last couple of months, so we had to cancel a few games,” said head coach Brian Drent.
The Mustangs were originally scheduled for 10 varsity games and one junior varsity game. Due to the rain, Monday’s double-header and the first half of Tuesday’s double header was cancelled.
Game One
The Mustangs kick started their Spring Break with an impressive 8-1 victory over Bethesda College in Compton, California on Tuesday. The schedule originally had the teams playing two seven-inning games, but was changed to one nine-inning The game was tied at 1 before the Mustangs exploded for a four run second inning. Nolan Hoff hit a two out, two run double, which was followed by a two-run home run by Jake Lamoreux.
Lamoreux finished the night 2-4 with three RBIs, while Hoff finished 3-4 with with two doubles and two RBIs. Cody Selig, Kevin Bevilacqua, Ricky Mitchell, Jared Novotny, Ross Ackerman, Jonathan Van Beek, and Lance Spongberg combined efforts on the mound, allowing only one run on six hits. They also struck out 10 batters.
Games Two and Three
On Wednesday, the Mustangs brought their big sticks as they completed a sweep of La Sierra University with scores of 11-1 and 14-7.
In game one of the double-header, Jared Sorenson, Ricky Mitchell, Aaron Homme, and Jon Van Beek tossed a combined one hitter, with Sorenson earning the victory. Nate DeChaine was 4-5 at the dish with a home run, and three RBI’s. Blake Rodgers also had a hot hand, adding a three run home run in the third inning. Cole Halgerson, Joe Tourville, and Nolan Hoff also contributed two hits each.
In the second game of the day, Morningside continued pounding the ball, plating 4 runs in the first inning. The inning was highlighted by a three-run missile from Nate DeChaine that cleared the right field fence. In the second inning, Jake Lamoreux smashed a similar-looking two-run homer. Then, in the fifth, redshirt freshman Alex Marrujo send a ball over the right field fence, adding two more runs to the scoreboard. At the end of the game, Morningside had outhit La Sierra 14-6, earning the 14-7 win. Lucas Henning was the winning pitcher for the Mustangs, allowing only three hits in four innings while striking out five batters.
Game Four
On Thursday, Morningside faced their toughest opponent yet in the young season. The Mustangs took the field against the #22 ranked team in the NAIA, Vanguard University, in a single nine-inning game. Senior pitcher Doug Vanecek started on the mound for the Mustangs and provided a dazzling complete game victory, allowing only two runs on five hits. Vanecek walked no batters and the defense behind him made no errors.
The scoring came early for both teams when Blake Rodgers hit a two-out single in the first inning, scoring Nolan Hoff. Then, in the second inning, the Mustangs extended their lead to 3-0 on a David Foley RBI single and a Jake Lamoreux sacrifice fly.
Vanguard responded with a Paul Keating two-run homer in the bottom of the second that barely sailed over the right field fence. However, the Mustangs got one back in the top of the third when Cole Chapin provided an RBI ground out. A 4-2 lead was all that Vanecek needed to give the Mustangs the win, throwing a scoreless third through ninth inning.
“I didn’t do anything differently than usual. They had trouble handling my fastball early in the game, and when I started throwing my change-up for strikes, they had even more trouble,” said Vanecek.
“Everyone played their part and filled their roll during that game. Nobody on this team is surprised with how we played. We expect it every day with this team,” added redshirt junior Cole Chapin.
Games Five and Six
On Friday, the Mustangs played Providence Christian in a double header in Arcadia, California, right outside of Pasadena. The Mustangs started their scoring early, plating three runs in the first three innings. The game was busted wide open when Joe Tourville belted a fourth inning grand slam over the left field fence, extending the Mustang lead to 7-0.
The Mustangs didn’t score again until the 7th inning, when they added two runs. They scored their 10th run of the game in the top of the 8th inning, and when Providence Christian couldn’t score a run of their own, the game was over due to a “Ten-Run Rule” that was in place. Ricky Mitchell was given the pitching win for the Mustangs. The win pushed Morningside’s win streak to nine games and moved their overall record to 14-2.
Other statistics from the game are not available at this time. The last half of the Friday twin bill gave the Mustangs their first loss of their Spring Break, standing on the wrong end of a 2-1 nail-biter after seven innings.
After five full innings, the score was still tied at zero. Providence Christian finally scored in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single from Adam Vargas. The Mustangs responded with a bases-loaded bloop single in the top of the seventh. However, the Mustangs couldn’t scratch another run across, despite having no outs with the bases loaded after Chapin’s single.
Lance Spongeberg took the loss for the Mustangs as he came in to pitch in the bottom of the seventh. A lead-off walk, a single, and a sacrifice bunt game Providence Christian a chance to win the game with runners on second and third with one out. A single down the third base line ended the game.
“We out-hit them and didn’t take bad swings (in the second game). Our bats have been hot all week, but they just cooled off in the last game, I guess,” said Jake Lamoreux.
Game Seven
The Mustangs couldn’t recover from the bruise they were dealt the day before when they took on Providence Christian again on Saturday.
The story was almost identical in the nine-inning affair, as both teams hadn’t scored a run through seven full innings. In the bottom of the 8th, a pair of throwing errors on one play from the Mustangs allowed a run to score. Then, a sacrifice fly from Providence Christian gave them a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the ninth, the Mustangs had the bases loaded with one out when Jake Lamoreux came to the plate and hit a sacrifice play, making the score 2-1. Nolan Hoff then walked to make the bases loaded again, this time with two outs. Nate DeChaine stepped to the plate with a chance to win the game, but flew out the second baseman to end the threat, thus ending the game. Ross Ackerman was given the pitching loss for the Mustangs.
“It’s not the way we wanted to end the trip, at all. We just have to remember that we’re a really good team that had a bad couple of games,” said David Foley.
The Mustangs are scheduled to play in York, Nebraska against York College on Tuesday, March 13th.
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