IMS cruises past Columbus baseball

For a young team, Tuesday night?s doubleheader against Columbus was just what the doctor ordered for Iowa Mennonite baseball.

IMS found its first two wins of the season against the Wildcats, with a pair of routs that each ended in the fifth inning.

A 12-run fourth inning helped IMS take an 18-5 victory in Game 1 of the doubleheader, followed by a 17-3 win in Game 2.

?This is a great confidence booster for us,? Iowa Mennonite head coach Danny Hershberger said. ?We came out and started a little slow, but put things together. It?s huge for the young guys to see the ball fall and make good plays on defense.?

IMS opened up Game 1 with a six-run lead, scoring two in the first and four in the second inning, but Columbus fought back quickly, answering with a combined five runs in the top of the third and top of the fourth.

Despite the Wildcats? pressure, IMS responded with one of it?s best offensive outputs of the year, scoring 12 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Everyone in the batting order came around to score at least once in the inning, with Tobyn Bender and Justin Litwiller each scoring multiple runs in the frame.

?We?ve been working on staying positive, no matter what,? Hershberger said. ?We have to turn the page and come right back after it. Columbus did a nice job of getting some hits, and we helped them out a bit, but we have a competitive group of guys that want to do well, so I was really happy to see that.?

Of the five runs given up by IMS, only one went down as earned, as senior Kirby Shetler earned his first win on the mound this season.

In Game 2, IMS didn?t wait long to get started again, scoring five runs in the first inning, four runs in the second and seven runs in the third to close the game.

Blake Bontrager earned the win in the second game, allowing five hits and three walks in the contest.

Columbus will host WACO while IMS will take on Lone Tree on Thursday.