[Baseball] Mustangs earn split in home opener

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Mount Mercy rallied late in game one but came up short, then scored early in the nightcap and held on for a split of Thursday's Midwest Collegiate Conference doubleheader at Ken Charipar Field at Xavier High School.

Mount Mercy trailed, 3-0, heading to the seventh inning of the opener. Junior pinch hitter Rafael Del Rio reached on an error to lead off the inning, and eventually scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of junior catcher Kevin Turner.

Two batters later, senior second baseman Albert Diaz scored on junior left fielder Alex Heumann's double to bring the Mustangs within a run. But Waldorf's Josh McGuire got junior shortstop David Rodriguez to pop out to short to end the threat and the Warriors got the 3-2 win.

Heumann had two of Mount Mercy's five hits in the contest. Sophomore right-hander Phil Hotchkiss (0-4) went the distance by was saddled with the loss after allowing three earned runs on seven hits while walking four. McGuire struck out four and walked one during a complete-game, five-hitter for the Warriors.

Senior righty Derrick Weber (4-2) looked sharp for the Mustangs in game two, surrendering just one earned run and six hits in the complete-game victory. An unearned run in the top of the first inning gave Waldorf a 1-0 lead, but Mount Mercy evened things up on a run-scoring double by Diaz in the bottom of the second.

An inning later, the Mustangs plated two more runs on an RBI single by junior first baseman Jeremy Glunt, who later scored on an error by the Warriors to give Mount Mercy a 3-1 advantage. Waldorf tacked on a run in the top of the fourth, but Weber got out of the next two innings with ground ball double plays to preserve the 3-2 victory.

The Mustangs (8-11, 2-4 MCC) travel to Canton, Mo., this weekend for a pair of doubleheaders against Culver-Stockton (Mo.). First pitch is at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.