Two pitching duels resulted in a pair of 1-run games in a double header split with Grace on Tuesday. In Game 1, Grace scored an unearned run in the top of the first and scored again in the third to take a 2-0 lead. MNU cut the deficit in half when Clayton Brandt singled with 2 outs and advanced to second on a passed ball, and Trent Sullivan followed with an RBI single.
Brett Ebers kept Grace off the board the rest of the way, and Sullivan came through again in the fifth with a 2-out bases-loaded 2-run single. Ebers pitched around a 2-out double and an error in the seventh, and MNU won 3-2. Brandt (1-2, R, HBP) and Sullivan (2-3, 3 RBI) had MNU's 3 hits.
In Game 2, Grace had a runner on second with one one when a grounder up the middle was snagged by second baseman
Santiago Romero. On the throw to first, the runner from second never stopped and made it all the way to the plate. The score would prove to be the game's only run. The Pioneers hit into a double play in the third, fourth, and sixth, but still had a chance in the seventh. Two walks and a sacrifice bunt put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, but a groundout and a flyout ended the threat and MNU fell 1-0.
Blake Robberson struck out 4 in the tough luck loss, and
Carlos Vargas (2-3, 2B) and
Nelson Santiago (1-2, 2B, BB) had 3 of MNU's 4 hits.
MNU is 26-16. The next double header is Senior Day on Saturday at home vs. Graceland (17-23, 9-11) at 1:00.
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