Panther boys swept by Muscatine

The Mt. Pleasant baseball team hosted Muscatine in a nonconference doubleader on Saturday morning. The Panthers looked strong early on but the Muskies stormed back in game one to win 7-2 and completed the sweep with a 7-1 win in game two.

Trace White was on the mound for Mt. Pleasant in game one, and he was untouchable through five. Muscatine was hitless going into the sixth inning, and Mt. Pleasant held a 2-0 lead.

Both of Mt. Pleasant's runs came off the bat of Bryce Anderson. He hit an RBI single in the third inning, which scored Nik Coble, and then lined an RBI double into the outfield in the fifth, plating Clayton Lowery.

Muscatine finally collected a few hits off White in the sixth inning, and from that point on it was all Muskies. They scored three runs in the sixth and tacked on four in the seventh to run away with the game.

White finished five and two-thirds innings, giving up three earned runs on four hits, while striking out two batters. Jaxon Hoyle and Corbin Broeker each pitched two-thirds of an inning, and both pitchers gave up two earned runs in the process, while striking out a batter apiece.

Anderson finished the game 2-3 with a double and two RBIs. Coble was 2-4 with a run scored. Lowery finished 1-4 with a double and a run scored.

'It was kind of deja vu from Thursday night,” said head coach Brent Broeker, referencing the previous doubleheader against Ft. Madison. 'White threw awesome through five innings. We let him go out there the third time through their order and they started catching up with him a little bit. We just couldn't stop them after that.”

Game two didn't have the promising start that game one did. The Mt. Pleasant offense was quiet through five innings, allowing Muscatine to open up a big lead. Muscatine scored a run in the second inning, a run in the third, two in the fifth and three in the sixth to take a 7-0 advantage. Mt. Pleasant scored one run in the bottom of the sixth when Anderson once again knocked in Lowery, collecting his third RBI of the day.

Anderson finished game two 1-3 with an RBI. Dalton Gardner was 1-2 with a double, and Lowery went 0-1 with a run scored.

Hoyle started game two and gave up two earned runs on four hits and three walks over four innings of work. He struck out three batters. Lowery and Edeker both appeared in relief. Lowery gave up five earned runs, and Edeker pitched a shutout seventh, striking out two batters along the way.

Mt. Pleasant will now gear up for a busy week. They'll play five road games over the course of four days, heading to Oskaloosa for a single game on Tuesday, June 4, and then playing back-to-back SEC doubleheaders on Thursday, June 6, in Washington and Friday, June 7, in Keokuk.