Mt. Pleasant baseball goes 0-4

MT. PLEASANT — The Mt. Pleasant baseball team couldn’t hang on to a late lead against Fort Madison in Game 1 of a Southeast Conference doubleheader on Thursday. They dropped two games to Burlington one night later.

On Thursday, the Panthers saw a 2-0 lead evaporate in the sixth inning of the opener, which Fort Madison stormed back to win 8-2. In Game 2, the Bloodhounds rolled 16-6 in five innings.

Will Edeker gave the Panthers a chance against the favored Bloodhounds, holding Fort Madison scoreless through four. The Bloodhounds scored one run in the fifth to cut the Panthers’ lead in half and then exploded in the later innings, plating four in the sixth and three in the seventh.

“We played really well (in Game 1),” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Brent Broeker. “We put a lot of pressure on them.”

Dalton Gardner led the Mt. Pleasant offense, finishing the game with one hit and one RBI. Colton Hutson, Edeker and Payton Hagans all had a hit.

Despite the strong start, Edeker was tagged with the loss. He had to be relieved in the sixth inning after giving up four runs on seven hits.

Mt. Pleasant had another 2-0 lead in Game 2 after plating a pair in the first inning. Fort Madison responded with a 12-run second to take the sails out of the hometown fans.

Mt. Pleasant did battle back to cut the lead to six, at 12-6 after 3, but the Panther offense stalled after the third inning and never scored again.

“If we take away that one inning, I think we win that game 6-4,” said Broeker. “We’ve just got to eliminate that big inning, like we have tried to all year.”

Zerek Venghaus had a huge Game 2, going 3-for-3 with four RBIs to lead Mt. Pleasant. Chase Williamson went 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Jacob Ensminger took the loss on the mound.

First-place Burlington was too much for Mt. Pleasant on Friday, beating the Panthers 12-3 and 15-2.