Mustangs win again, get within a game of nationals

OZARK, Mo. -- Third-seeded Mount Mercy defeated second-seeded MidAmerica Nazarene, 12-6, in the winner's bracket of the Heart of America Baseball Championship on Saturday at Ozark Mountain Sports Complex to move within one victory of a national tournament berth.

The Mustangs (30-19), who also hit the 30-win mark for the third time in four seasons, will face top-seeded Central Methodist (43-7) on Sunday at noon. Both teams are unbeaten this week and the winner of that game moves into the championship final. Since the top two teams in the conference tournament earn automatic berths in the NAIA Baseball Championship, tomorrow's winner nabs one of those spots.

Solo homers by Joel Vaske in the first inning and Riley Rundquist in the second had Mount Mercy in front early. Trent Hoogerwerf's two-run single and a run-scoring base hit by Rundquist extended the Mustang lead to 5-1 in the top of the third. The Pioneers got three runs back in the bottom half to close the gap to 5-4 and it stayed that way until the sixth.

In that frame, it was Drake Frazier scoring on Tyler Dahm's base hit, then later, Jaden Hackbarth came around on Jeremy Figueroa's double to make it 7-4. Single runs in the seventh and eighth again brought MidAmerica Nazarene within a run before the Mustangs put the game away with a five-run ninth inning. Hoogerwerf drove in Figueroa with a single to center, Rundquist homered again, this time a three-run shot, and Ryan Knowlton capped things off with an RBI double.

Matt Irvine (9-2) went the first six innings to get the win, allowing four earned runs on six hits while striking out five and walking two. Tyler Nagelbach finished off the the Pioneers, limiting them to an earned run on one hit over the final three frames. Rundquist finished 3-for-4 with five RBIs. Hoogerwerf was 2-for-5 with three runs batted in while Vaske ended up 2-for-2 with three runs scored and a run driven in.