Baseball Swept by Mayville State

Hastings, NE – The Hastings College baseball team ended up on the wrong side of things on Saturday dropping game one 12-9 (8 innings) before getting shutout in game two 2-0 out at Duncan Field.

The sticks came to play in game one as Tyler Kissler began the second inning by doubling deep to center field. Dylan Otto then sacrificed him over to third with James Velasquez picking up a walk. This brought up Thomas Hartman as he ripped a shot over the left fielders head for a triple and two RBIs. Jace Valdez then brought Hartman home with a sac fly to right as the Broncos lead early 3-0.

The Broncos would give those runs right back to the Comets as an error allowed two runs to score with another coming across on a sac fly in the third. MSU took a brief lead in the fourth with a RBI single off the bat of Reed Marquez. The Broncos came right back with Otto leading off the fourth with a double. Velasquez then got it by a pitch and Hartman singled to load the bases. Valdez roped a single to center scoring Velasquez and Ethan Rolfe to make it 5-4.

Mayville State battled back and took the lead in the seventh on a two RBI triple to make it 7-5 as Hastings was down to its final at-bat.

Eli Merritt got the inning started with a single and two batters later, Kissler tripled to center to plate Merritt to make it 7-6 with just one out. Otto then doubled over the left fielders head to tie the game 7-7 but HC couldn't find that extra run it needed to get the walk-off so to extras the game went.

This is where everything fell apart as MSU scored five runs on five hits to go up 12-7 as Hastings came to bat. The Broncos had a bit of life as Tristan Martinez reached on an error by the third baseman that score Hartman. The Merritt took advantage of the right fielder dropping a foul ball to keep his at bat alive and he made payoff with a RBI single to center to make it 12-9. Brody Severin then ripped a single to left followed by a walk to Kissler which loaded the bases with two outs. But Otto got under one and flew out to right to end the game at 12-9.

Valdez finished the day going 1-for-3 with three RBIs while Merritt, Kissler, Otto and Hartman each had a pair of hits in the loss.

Unlike game one, game two the Bronco bats went absolutely cold mustering just five hits in the 2-0 loss. Merritt again with Otto each had a pair of hits in the game two loss.

Velasquez pitched well going 7.0 innings giving up two runs on six hits while striking out seven.

Hastings is now 1-9 on the year and will be back in action Sunday Mar. 5 for two more against the Comets with first pitch set for 11:00 am out at Duncan Field in Hastings, NE.