MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE GAM E DAY - APR I L 21, 2021
MUSTANG BASEBALL An eight-game homestand continues this afternoon as Morningside College steps out of Great Plains Athletic Conference action for the final time this season. Heart of America Conference member Peru State College takes a northern trek to Lewis and Clark Park’s Mercy Field. Head coach Wayne Albury’s team stands 19-21-1 and is coming off a conference weekend series win over Missouri Valley College. Head coach Adam Boeve’s Mustangs (19-24) look to add momentum to a sweep of GPAC foe Midland University which occurred April 18.
The Match-Up PSC has captured four of the last five, including a sweep of the Mustangs on their home field in southeastern Nebraska in 2013-14, which was the last time the two programs faced off. The all-time set is even-steven at seven triumphs apiece. A balanced attack of clutch hitting and strong pitching enabled Morningside College to tally two key Great Plains Athletic Conference victories Sunday. The Mustangs, looking to shake off recent doldrums of six losses in eight outings, turned to the underclassman mound tandem of freshmen Justin Lottman and Wade Canaday to guide them out of the current impasse. Lottman went six and a third in the opener at Mercy Field at Lewis and Clark Park, striking out four and surrendering just two runs on five hits. Canaday fired five strikeouts in seven innings on the hill and allowed visiting Midland University just two tallies on eight hits. With that type of pitching in its corner, the Maroon offense raked the Warrior staff to the tune of 14 runs on 14 hits over 16 frames. Five-run innings bolstered the attack on both ends to spotlight a 6-2, 8-2 doubleheader broom job. Senior infielder Jordan Pierce nearly produced enough for the entire roster, belting a grand slam and double in game two for five RBI and going one-for-two with an RBI in game one. Freshman catcher Gunnar Kale and freshman outfielder
Hunter Hope each collected a pair of safeties in the opener, and Kale posted a two-bagger in the nightcap. Mside moved to 11-9 in the league with the two victories in front of a happy and sun-splashed afternoon crowd. Midland used a pair of late-inning comebacks on April 17 to begin the series, plating three over the fifth and sixth of game one and an eight-run outburst in the seventh inning of game two to claim 3-2 and 9-7 triumphs. Boeve’s bunch goes into the final stages of the conference race tied for fifth but just a half-game out of a tie for third. They resume league play Saturday, April 24, hosting the University of Jamestown in a doubleheader. A pair of freshmen find themselves among the conference’s statistical top five heading into the home stretch. Southpaw starter Caleb Thomsen is fourth in lowest opponent batting average (.228). Outfielder Hunter Hope continues his fielding perfection as one of only eight remaining players to not have committed an error. Hope also stands atop the national fielding percentage charts along with 166 other individuals at 1.000.