MNU won its fifth and sixth straight conference games in a double header sweep of Baker on Friday. In Game 1,
Kelvin Perez cleared the trees in left field for a solo homer to start the scoring in the second, and
Jordan Jones and
Jordan Eckley recorded 2-out RBIs in the third to give MNU a 3-0 lead.
Phillipe Graham ran into trouble in the fourth and allowed a run, but stranded 2 runners in scoring position to keep the lead. In the fifth,
Clayton Brandt reached on an error, stole second, went to third on an error, and scored on a wild pitch to put the Pioneers up by 3. Graham completed the game and struck out 7 for a 4-1 victory, and
Jordan Jones (1-3, RBI),
Jordan Eckley (1-3, 3B, RBI), and
Kelvin Perez (1-2, R, HR, RBI, HBP) had MNU's 3 hits.
In Game 2, MNU jumped all over Baker with a 3-run first and a 2-run second for a 5-0 lead. The Pioneers scored 1 in the third on a
Nelson Santiago RBI double, added 1 in the fourth on a squeeze play, and another in the fifth on a Santiago homer to take an 8-0 lead. Baker scored twice in the sixth, but that's all they would get.
Santiago Romero battled control issues and issued 6 walks in 5 innings, but struck out 8 and allowed just 2 hits for his fourth win of the season.
Zach Stinnett held the 8-2 lead to finish the game, and
Clayton Brandt (2-3, 2 R, BB, 3 SB),
Jordan Eckley (2-3, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, 3 SB),
Seth Lieser (2-3, R, 2B, RBI, Sac),
Nelson Santiago (2-3, R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI), and
Blake Robberson (2-2, R, 2 SB) had 2 hits apiece.
In Game 3,
Clayton Brandt led off the bottom of the first with a homer, and
Seth Lieser did the same to lead off the second.
Blake Robberson drilled his first collegiate homer, a 2-run shot, later in the inning. And the Pioneers took a 6-0 lead. Baker scored twice in the fifth, but
Nelson Santiago got a run back with a 2-out RBI double in the bottom of the inning. Both teams rallied for 2 in the sixth, but MNU held on for a 9-5 win.
Carlos Vargas struck out 9 for a complete game victory, and
Clayton Brandt (2-4, 3 R, HR, 2 RBI, SB),
Seth Lieser (1-2, R, HR, RBI),
Nelson Santiago (1-2, 2B, RBI), and
Blake Robberson (2-3, R, HR, 2 RBI) led the offense.
In Game 4, MNU starter
Jesus Brito struck out 4 in the top of the first inning, but Baker scored 3 unearned runs to take the lead. The Pioneers came right back with 4 runs on 4 hits to take the lead in the bottom of the inning, but Baker tied it in the third. In the bottom of the fourth,
Trent Sullivan reached on an error, stole second, went to third on a wild throw, and scored on another error to give MNU a 5-4 lead. In the top of the sixth, reliever
Tyler Taute escaped a 2nd & 3rd no-out jam with 2 strikeouts and a flyout to keep the lead. And in the seventh, closer
Zach Stinnett escaped a runner on 3rd, 1 out situation to earn the save and complete the sweep. Brito struck out 9 in 5 innings for the victory, Taute struck out 2 in a scoreless sixth, Stinnett picked up his 4th save, and
Clayton Brandt (3-4, R, 2 2B, SB) and
Seth Lieser (3-3, R, 3 2B, RBI) had multi-hit games.
MNU is 25-15 (12-8 HAAC). The next double header is Tuesday at home vs. Grace (10-16) at 1:00.
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