MP baseball team cruises to sweep

The Mt. Pleasant baseball team shut down Keokuk once again on Thursday night, completing the season sweep with two dominant wins. Mt. Pleasant took game one 9-0 and game two 12-2.

The Panthers had trouble getting seperation from Keokuk in game one. The Panthers led just 3-0 after four innings, but sprinkled in six more runs over the next two frames, pouring it on in the sixth before ending the game in the top of the seventh.

Jaxon Hoyle had dominant outing, throwing a complete-game, three-hit shutout. Hoyle gave up just two walks in the win and struck out eight Chiefs.

Hoyle also led the offense with three RBIs in the win. Chase Lamm was 2-4 with two RBIs, and Clayton Lowery was 2-3 with a double and a triple.

Nik Coble, Dalton Gardner, Trace White and Chase Williamson each had one RBI in the game one win.

Mt. Pleasant was unable to score through the first three innings of game one. Coble knocked two in with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, and that opened the floodgates.

Mt. Pleasant ended up scoring 12 runs in the fourth inning. Keokuk added two runs in the top of the fifth, but couldn't cut the lead to single digits.

'I thought our guys did a good job,” head coach Brent Broeker said after the wins. 'We put pressure on them every inning, we just didn't get any early, and then we finally caught up with them in the later innings. We scored enough runs to end them both early, and I'm happy with the way we swung it.”

Lowery threw four innings in game two, giving up just one hit and four walks, while striking out six batters. Corbin Broeker closed the game out in the fifth, giving up two runs on three hits and one walk, while striking out two.

Coble ended the game 2-3 with a double and four RBIs. Will Edeker had two RBIs. Hoyle had a triple and an RBI. Lamm and Trace White each had an RBI, and both Broeker and Lowery finished 2-3.

Mt. Pleasant outscored Keokuk 56-10 in four games this season. They're now 8-5 overall and 7-3 in conference play.

'Those are the type of teams that, if you let them hang around long enough, they're going to start getting some energy and that's when they end up nipping you,” Coach Broeker said. 'I thought our kids did a good job of putting it out of reach.”

The Panthers will be at Williamsburg on Saturday, June 15, playing in a morning doubleheader, starting at 10 a.m.