Mustangs take three of four from Bees

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- After sweeping Coe earlier in the week, the Mount Mercy baseball team extended its winning streak to five games with three straight victories over St. Ambrose before the Bees took Saturday's finale at the Robert W. Plaster Athletic Complex.

Tyler Dahm and Kaimana Souza-Paaluhi each drove in a run in the series opener, a 4-0 Mustang win. Kobey Schlotman (2-0) picked up the victory with five innings of two-hit ball. He struck out five and walked one. Kale Orman went the final two innings while allowing just one hit.

After the Bees took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, the Mustangs scored single runs in the second, fourth, and seventh innings for a 3-2, come-from-behind win. A dropped fly ball allowed the game-winning run to score in the bottom of the seventh. Jacob Lodge (1-1) was the winning pitcher in relief of Nathan Pardini, who struck out seven in four innings. Lodge surrendered two hits in three innings while striking out three.

For the second straight game, St. Ambrose grabbed an early lead but couldn't hold on as Mount Mercy won, 5-2. Kyle Moeder homered and drove in a pair of runs, Souza-Paaluhi had an RBI triple, and Sam Stonskas came through with a run-scoring single for the Mustangs. Andrue Henry (1-0) got the win with 3-1/3 innings of two-hit relief and Carter Lawler earned his second save of the season.

Roles were reversed in the series finale. An RBI double by Moeder and run-scoring single by Evan Paulus put Mount Mercy up, 2-0, in the first before the Bees (9-3) scored twice in the fourth and again in the fifth to hand the Mustangs a 3-2 defeat.

Mount Mercy (7-5) was scheduled to host a non-conference doubleheader with Viterbo on Tuesday, but the return of winter weather has wiped that out. Now the Mustangs will be back in action this weekend, opening Heart of America Athletic Conference play at Missouri Valley. First pitch is 1:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday in Marshall, Mo.