Pecson Blasts Two Home Runs as Mustangs Sweep Statesmen

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - The Mount Mercy baseball team used dominating offense to sweep William Penn, winning on Saturday by scores of 12-2 and 7-5.

Game One

Four Mustangs, Drake Frazier, Kyle Moeder, Josh Notriano, and Brandon Bickford, recorded two hits in the game, with Frazier driving in a game high four RBI's in the win.

Frazier drove in the first two of his RBI's in the second on a double to left field, scoring Moeder and Bickford, as the Mustangs jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Bickford would single to center field in the third which scored Matthew Murphy. Moeder would follow that up with a two-run single to left field, while Frazier would drive in another run on a single, as the Mustangs extended their lead to 7-0.

Trent Hoogerwerf would tack on a two-run double, followed by a Ryan Knowlton two-run single, as the Mustangs exploded for nine runs in the third inning alone. In the fifth, Tyler Pecson blasted a ball to left center in his first at bat of the game, as the lead became 12. The Statesmen finally got on the board in the seventh, but it was nowhere near enough as the Mustangs cruised to a 10 run win.

Kyle Lehmann earned the win, pitching six innings of shutout baseball, only allowing four hits and striking out six. Joel Holguin was tabbed with the loss, only pitching 2.2 innings and allowing nine earned runs while striking out one.

Game Two

Four more Mustangs recorded multiple hits, led by Pecson and Moeder who each recorded two RBI's to go along with two hits.

In his first at bat of game two, and second at bat on the day, Pecson blasted his second home run of the day, once again to left center, as the Mustangs took the early lead. William Penn would answer back, as Marco Ayala recorded a sacrifice fly. The Mustangs would respond as Moeder reached base on a dropped fly ball by the Statesmen left fielder, who lost the ball in the sun, as Jaden Hackbarth came across the plate to score. Frazier drove in a run on fielders choice as MMU retook a two run lead.

The Statesmen answered back with three runs in the third, capped off by a Nathan Jessell two-run single. Pecson drove in his second run of the game in the bottom of the fourth, followed by a Moeder RBI double to right field in the fifth, squaring the game at five. Following a crucial error by the Statesmen third baseman, two Mustangs came across to score following a ball that got past the catcher, rounding out the scoring.

Josh Fleming was remarkable on the mound, coming in relief with the bases loaded and nobody out while getting out of the inning, earning a win. Fleming pitched four innings while only allowing four hits and no runs, while striking out three. Zach Barden earned his fifth save of the season, pitching one inning and striking out three.