Panther baseball completes season sweep of Fairfield

Henry Krieger-Coble struck out 12 and Connor Shull fanned 10 to propel Mt. Pleasant to a doubleheader sweep of Fairfield in Southeast Conference play Thursday night.

?Mt. Pleasant?s pitchers had us pretty baffled all night at the plate,? said Fairfield head coach Josh Allison. ?We had way too many strikeouts, and clearly, too many strike outs looking.?

The Panthers (14-5, 6-2 SEC) ran away to win game one 12-1 before taking the nightcap, 6-2.

For good measure, Jacob Dilks entered to strike out two to close the night in the bottom of the seventh and give Mt. Pleasant a total of 24 K?s.

Corbin Harwood?s solo home run in the fourth inning of the opener was the only blemish on Krieger-Coble?s complete-game three-hitter. Joe Hietpas and Brock Haines also tacked on hits for the Trojans (6-18, 1-7).

Meanwhile, Mt. Pleasant quickly built a lead thanks in large part to a six-run fourth inning that got started with Alex O?Donnell?s two RBI double that plated Braden Shull and Tanner Stutzman. Cody Vaughn singled to bring home O?Donnell two batters later as Fairfield struggled through a total of seven errors in the contest.

Ryan Schenk, Krieger-Coble, Tanner Courtney, Korbin Taylor, Stutzman and O?Donnell were all 2-4 to lead the Panther offense.

In the nightcap, Vaughn ripped a two-RBI single to put Mt. Pleasant up 4-0 and Connor Shull dealt from there. Tyler Cooksey?s double drove in Mason Ellis for the lone earned run charged to Shull.

The pair of wins keep Mt. Pleasant in control of its own destiny for the Southeast Conference title while Fairfield will be at home again tonight against Pella Christian. Mt. Pleasant travels to Ottumwa tonight for a varsity doubleheader, starting at 5:30 p.m. before heading to Centerville Saturday for the Centerville tournament.