The Pioneers dropped Game 1 and survived a disastrous 7th inning of Game 2 to salvage a split vs. Peru State on Saturday.
Box and Play by Play In Game 1, Peru State led off the game with a solo homer, but MNU starter
Kyle Olson recovered to strike out the side.
Derek Glenn led off the bottom of the 1st with a walk, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a groundout to tie the game. Peru State took the lead back in the top of the second with another solo homer, but
Colin Starr drove home
Alex Murrieta in the bottom of the inning to tie it again. The Pioneer offense couldn't get anything going after the second inning, however, and Peru added 1 in the fifth and 2 in the sixth to win 5-2.
Derek Glenn (1-1, R, 2B, 3 BB, SB) and
Colin Starr (2-2, RBI, BB) led the offense.
Box and play by Play In Game 2, MNU starter
Matt Netherton worked his way out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the first, and
Ben Alison's 10th homer of the season - a 2-run shot - put the Pioneers up 2-0 in the bottom of the inning. Peru cut the MNU lead in half with a single run in the third, but a Pioneer run in the bottom of the sixth set it up for ace reliever
Justin Huggins to close it out. With the Pioneers leading 3-1, Peru State led off with a hit batsman and followed with a routine double play grounder which went for an error and put the tying run on base. A single made it 3-2, and the next hitter's bunt was misplayed for another error to load the bases. A sacrifice fly tied the game and moved a runner to 3rd, and Huggins struck out the next batter to seemingly stem the tide. But the next hitter drew a walk to reload the bases, and the next pitch was nailed into the trees for a grand slam, leaving the stunned Pioneers down 7-3 heading to the bottom of the seventh.
Ben Alison led off the inning with a double to center, and
Josh Greer followed with a walk. A fielder's choice groundout followed by a deep flyout seemed to kill the rally, but
Kevin Liddle was hit by a pitch and the next two batters drew walks to bring home 2 runs and put the tying run on second.
Kyle Segraves then battled back from an 0-2 count to nail a ball into the left field corner, scoring 2 and tying the game.
Kevin Liddle pitched a scoreless top of the eighth, and
Ben Alison led off the bottom of the inning with a hit by pitch. After a popout, Alison stole second to get into scoring position, and
Alex Murrieta drilled a ball over the center fielder's head to give MNU the improbable victory.
Liddle (2-0) picked up the win in relief, and
Kyle Segraves (1-4, R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB),
Ben Alison (2-3, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 HBP, 2 SB), and
Alex Murrieta (2-5, R, 2B, RBI) led the offense.
The Pioneers are 23-7 (8-2 HAAC). The next game is a non conference home double header on Tuesday vs. Friends University (11-24) at 1:00.
