Muleskinner

Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Drew Woolery: Muleskinner Sophomore starter Danny Potjie pitched seven strong innings and earned the victory in Friday's game against Upper Iowa. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Drew Woolery: Muleskinner [Click to enlarge]

Three days and the three victories later, the UCM Mules baseball team is starting to get on a roll.

Friday the Mules took out the Upper Iowa University Peacocks 9-1. UCM scored a run in each of the first three innings and never looked back.

The Mules broke the game wide open in the sixth by scoring five runs.

Junior designated hitter Mike Hallam continued to hit the hot bat, going 4-of-4 with four runs scored and two RBI's.

Senior right fielder Blaine Rutledge got in on the offense power, going 3-of-5 with a couple RBI's, and senior third baseman Iain Dykins also blasted a two-run homerun in the sixth inning.

Sophomore Danny Potjie was solid on the mound as well, going seven innings and allowing only one run on six hits in the win to improve his record to 3-1.

Saturday's game was a rematch from the night before as the Mules had to come from behind against the Peacocks, this time to win 6-3.

Down 3-1 with two outs and a runner on third Hallam doubled to right field to pull the Mules within one.

The very next batter, Dykins, homered to left to give the Mules the 4-3 lead.

UCM, 8-4, tacked on two more runs in the eighth when senior outfielder Clay Weatherford smashed a one-out homerun to left for the 6-3 lead.

Junior pitcher Mark Carey, 1-0, picked up the victory with seven innings of work. He allowed three runs on five hits with seven strikeouts.

Junior relief pitcher Chris Matlock came on in the eighth and pitched the Mules out of a jam and sophomore pitcher Alex Kent pitched the ninth for his first save of the season.

The Mules finished the weekend by pounding the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO) 12-6.

UNO committed eight errors in the game while the Mules pounded out 16 hits on the windy day.

The Mavericks went on top 4-0 in the first two innings off UCM senior starter Jarod Potts, but the Mules cut the lead 4-2 in the bottom of the second, courtesy of a senior catcher Luis Perez solo-shot and a Clay Weatherford bunt-single.

Central got things going in the fourth though, scoring five runs after the Mavericks made four errors.

It wasn't over after that, as the Mavericks scored a couple in the top of the fifth to make it 7-6.

Sophomore pitcher Nick Phillips came in to relieve Potts and tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing only one hit to get the win.

Chris Matlock came in for the final two frames, allowing no runs and no hits to earn the save.

Central Missouri tacked on five insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, highlighted by an RBI-double from Weatherford and an RBI-triple from Hallam.

UNO had their other four errors in that inning as well. The Mules actually scored only three earned runs in the game.

Next for the Mules will be road trip to St. Louis today when the team faces the University of Missouri-St. Louis at 3 p.m.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools