The Pioneers took the first 2 games of a 4-game series vs. Benedictine on Friday.
Box and Play by Play In Game 1,
Kyle Olson continued his recent dominance with his 5th straight complete game and his 4th straight victory as the Pioneers used a big fourth inning to win 4-2. Benedictine struck first with an unearned run in the top of the first, but
Kevin Liddle's sacrifice fly in the second tied the game at 1. In the bottom of the fourth,
Alex Murrieta launched the first pitch of the inning just inside the foul pole for his 7th homer of the season, and
Josh Greer nailed the next pitch into the right-center gap for a triple.
Colin Starr followed with an RBI double, and
Kyle Segraves' 2-out single pushed across the 3rd run of the inning and completed a team cycle in the fourth. The Ravens managed a pinch hit solo homer in the top of the seventh, but MNU hung on for a 4-2 victory. Olson scattered 5 hits and struck out 5 in 7 innings. And
Kyle Segraves (2-3, 2B, RBI, SB),
Alex Murrieta (1-3, R, HR, RBI), and
Colin Starr (2-3, 2B, RBI) led the offense.
Box and Play by Play In Game 2, MNU jumped out to a big lead early but had to hang on as the Ravens fought back. In the bottom of the first,
Kyle Segraves reached 2nd on an error and moved to 3rd on a
Derek Glenn single.
Timothy Barraza followed with another single to give MNU the lead, and after a bunt
Alex Murrieta drove home another run with a single. A wild pitch closed the scoring, and the Pioneers led 3-0.
Dillon Moeller led off the second inning with a double and scored one out later on a
Derek Glenn single. The lead was extended again in the third when
Ben Alison led off with a double and
Alex Murrieta followed with an RBI single. After a double play,
Colin Starr launched his 9th home run of the season to put MNU up 6-0. The Ravens fought back with a 2-run homer in the top of the fourth, then chased starter
Justin Huggins with 3 runs in the fifth to cut the Pioneer lead to 1. Reliever
Kanon Hoover entered the game with a runner on 2nd and no outs and struck out 2 Ravens, induced a flyout, and held the lead for the Pioneers. Hoover again struck out 2 in a perfect sixth inning, then closed the seventh with 2 more strikeouts to earn the save. Huggins struck out 5 in his 6th victory of the season. And
Derek Glenn (3-4, R, 2B, RBI, SB),
Timothy Barraza (1-3, R, RBI),
Ben Alison (1-2, R, 2B, Sac),
Alex Murrieta (2-3, 2 RBI),
Colin Starr (1-2, R, HR, RBI, HBP), and
Dillon Moeller (1-3, R, 2B) led the offense.
The Pioneers are 36-12 (17-7 HAAC). The next game is a double header at home on Senior Day vs. Benedictine (15-27, 9-15) at 1:00 PM.
