Mustangs split series against Brock

After a long day of baseball, the Mustangs split their doubleheader with the Brock Badgers, losing the first game 3-1, and winning the second game 4-1.

Brock centre fielder Evan Baglieri hit a solo home run and an RBI single in the first game to lead the Badgers to victory, accounting for two of the team’s nine hits.

Mustangs first baseman Graham Fulton batted in the Mustangs only run of the game on an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Both pitchers pitched complete games in the first game, stifling the offence and keeping the score low.

After losing the first game, the Mustangs were led to victory by southpaw pitcher Christian Davies, who pitched a seven-inning complete game—allowing only one unearned run and striking out three.

“[Davies] threw strikes and kept [the Badgers] off-balance,” Mustangs head coach Mike Lumley said. “He is a pretty good lefty, and he did a good job today throwing strikes, and that was the biggest thing.”

“He picked up the whole team,” Mustangs third baseman Paul Lytwynec said.

The Mustangs struck first when Fulton hit an RBI double off the wall in centre field in the bottom of the third. Fulton would later score on an RBI single.

There was no more scoring until the top of the sixth inning, when the Badgers used a pair of groundouts to score a runner that had reached base on an earlier error.

However, the Mustangs put the game out of reach in the bottom of the same inning, when an RBI single and a sacrifice fly gave them a 4-1 lead.

This was a remarkably low-scoring affair considering the teams are top two in the Ontario University Athletics standings. “These are probably the best two hitting teams in the league,” Lumley said. “You can contribute [the low score] to good pitching on their side as well—making sure that we didn’t get many hits.”

Although the score was low, the Badgers used four different pitchers to get through the game. Starting pitcher Ryan Beckett only made it through three innings of work, battling control issues and walking four.

“We had not used much of our bullpen on Saturday,” Badgers coach Jeff Lounsbury said. “With the complete game in game one, we knew we would be using more arms in the last game on the weekend. It was planned on our end.”

Although the Mustangs emerged victorious, it seemed like there may have been some controversy when the umpire called an out on what would have been an RBI fielder’s choice in the second inning. Instead, the play was ruled a double play and the inning came to an end.

“It’s not that the umpires are bad—they miss a call, we miss a call, we don’t play well—it’s all a parcel of playing the game,” Lumley said. “It’s not as cut-and-dry as some other sports sometimes, but it’s always like that.”

“That was two good teams playing hard, with good offence, good defence, good pitching, and at times good hitting,” Lounsbury said. “Both games could have went either way.”
The Badgers next game is Tuesday against the Laurier Golden Hawks, while the Mustangs head to Queen’s on Friday to face the Gaels.

“We’re ready to go and we’re starting to roll now,” Lytwynec said. “We’re getting ready for going to the playoffs.”