Photo by Tyler Dunn
Sterlington, La. – It was a big weekend for the McPherson College baseball team as they made the 11 hour journey south to Sterlington, Louisiana to take part in the Cajun Collision, a tournament made up of 16 of the top teams in the NAIA.
The Bulldogs played a pair of games each day of the tournament. They were matched up with Louisiana State University Alexandria and Louisiana Christian University on Friday, and then were paired with a two top 15 team in University of Sciences and Arts Oklahoma (14), and Central Methodist University (2) on day two.
The opening game with the LSUA Generals was a pitching duel with the Bulldogs sending Drake Miller to the bump. Miller was dialed in and pitched an absolute gem. He went five innings, and allowed one run on two hits, fanned nine, and walked zero. Unfortunately one of the hits was a solo home run that turned out to be the game winner. Julio Acosta came on in relief of Miller in the sixth inning. He set the Generals down in order with two of the three outs recorded as strikeouts. With 11 of the 21 outs coming from a punch-out, the Bulldogs should have easily won the game, but the offense gave their pitchers zero run support, and the Bulldogs wound up losing to the Generals 1-0.
The Bulldog offense managed only three hits against the Generals, all three singles by Gage Niness, Trevor Johnson, and Jake Pearson.
After that tough loss, the Bulldogs were right back on the field, taking on the LCU Wildcats. The Bulldogs continued to struggle offensively, in game two. They doubled their hit total from the first game, with half of them going for extra bases. The Bulldogs trailed the Wildcats 2-0 for most of the game before their offense finally found life in final three innings.
Kurt Golubski led the sixth inning off with a triple and then scored on the next play when Antonio Hyrnkiw grounded out to the first baseman. An inning later, James Canar tied the game with a solo homerun to left field, his second of the season, and the only Bulldog homerun of the weekend.
In the bottom of the seventh, Golubski drew a one out walk, and the Bulldogs opted for a pinch runner, Caleb Feuerstake, who has a lot of speed on the base paths. With one out and the winning runner on first base, Hyrnkiw came to the plate. He got a pitch he liked, and drove a ball down the right field line. Feuerstake was off on contact and he never slowed down. He rounded third and was waved home by head coach Kyle Mackinnon. The Wildcat relay throw was not in time, and Feuerstake slid head first into home plate for the game winner.
It was another great pitching performance by the Bulldogs. Blake Maddock got the start, going four strong innings, giving up two runs on three hits, one walk, and nine strikeouts. Nathan Ruble and Brock Selstron, made their season debuts on Friday, each with an inning of work. Both were fantastic, holding the Wildcats scoreless. Justin Lockey came on for the seventh inning and pitched a shutout and because the Bulldogs won the game a half inning later, Lockey was credited with the win.
Mackinnon summed up day one by saying, "Friday was a decent day for the Dogs. We learned a lot about our current roster playing those close games against talented teams. Our pitching carried us to our 1-1 record, which has been a rarity in the past and a big positive we took into Saturday's games."
 The weather changed dramatically for Saturday, dropping 25 degrees with a stiff north wind. The Bulldogs played on two different fields, but on both, the wind was blowing in, not ideal for a Bulldog offense that does a lot of damage with the long ball.
Game one on Saturday against 14th ranked USAO saw another masterful pitching performance from the Bulldog staff. Alex Escobar, making his second start of the season, improved to 2-0 going five scoreless innings, and scattering six hits, zero walks, and six puch-outs. Jacob Gilcrease came out of the pen in the sixth inning in relief of Escobar. He was equally impressive with two innings of work, with one run on one hit, four strikeouts and zero walks.
Offensively the Bulldogs started to come alive against the Drovers in game one on Saturday. They scored six runs on eight hits, two of them doubles. Niness, and Hayden Foster each had two hits for the Bulldogs. Niness was 2 for 4 with a pair of singles, while Foster was a perfect 2 for 2 with a walk, a single and a three RBI double.
 The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when the Bulldogs got on the board on an RBI single by Trevor Johnson that drove in Foster. An inning later Foster came up big again, hitting a bases loaded double to the gap in right center field. The hit cleared the bases, and gave the Bulldogs a 4-0 lead. In the bottom of the fifth, Kevinn Castillo got into the action, doubling home Feuerstake, and Jake Pearson to put the Bulldogs up 6-0. The Drovers got their only run in the top of the sixth, but the Bulldogs shut them down in the seventh to secure the win 6-1.
 With back to back wins, the Bulldogs headed into the weekend finale with the CMU Eagles, the NAIAs #2 team, with a lot of momentum. The Bulldogs and Eagles met last season in the NAIA Opening Round. The Eagles won that match-up 17-8, but on Saturday the Bulldogs would flip the script winning the game 9-4.
 The Bulldogs used 13 hits to score their nine runs, getting major contributions from Trevor Johnson and James Canar. Johnson was 4 for 5 with a double, three runs scored, and two RBI while Canar was 3 for 5, also with a double.
On the mound, the Bulldogs employed five different pitchers starting with lefty Rolando Fletes. Fletes worked the first two innings allowing one run on no hits with four walks and two strikeouts. From the third inning on, it was the Bulldog bullpen that carried the load. Alex Amaral was first out of the pen. He went an inning and a third allowing one run on two hits with two walks and one strikeout. Next up was Isaiah Vasquez who lasted only a third of an inning giving up a run on one hit with a walk. Zach Reynolds went two and a third scoreless innings scattering two hits with zero walks and a trio of strikeouts and was awarded the win. Last out of the pen was Lockey, called upon once again to close out the game. He kept the Eagles off the scoreboard allowing one hit with one strikeout.
The Bulldogs opened the game with a run in the top of the first. The Eagles tied the game a half inning later without recording a hit in the at bat. After a scoreless second inning, the Bulldogs erupted for four runs in the third beginning with an RBI double by Canar. Feuerstake then singled through the right side scoring Canar from second base. But they weren't done. Noah Nelson got hit by a pitch loading the bases, then they got a little help from the Eagle defense. Hyrnkiw hit a ground ball to the second baseman who threw the ball away allowing two more Bulldogs to score making the score 5-1.
The Eagles made a run at the Bulldogs in the bottom of the fourth scoring three runs to trim the Bulldog lead to 5-4.
The momentum seemed to shift to the Eagles, but the Bulldogs didn't shrink back. They put up four more runs in the top of the fifth on a pair of RBI singles by Johnson and Niness and a wild pitch by the Eagles that scored Johnson.
That would turn out to be all of the scoring. The Eagles threatened in their final three at bats, but the Bulldog pitchers and defense came through when it mattered most.
Mackinnon summed up the day saying, "To put it simply, day two was a historic day for our program. Taking games over two top 15 teams in the country, including number 2, is a huge step in the right direction. Our improvements from the previous weekend were very evident and our pitching all weekend was outstanding. The level of baseball at the Cajun Collision closely emulated a regional, something that we are striving for again this year."
He finished by saying, "We have to be able to turn the page however as we welcome a fellow O'Fallon regional team from 2021 to Bulldog Park next weekend, Doane."
With their 3-1 performance this weekend, the Bulldogs are now 4-3 on the year. They will play their home opener next Saturday and Sunday, hosting the Doane University Tigers in a pair of double headers starting at 12:00 pm both days. Â
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