YORK, Neb. — For the first time in KCAC play this year, the Bulldogs found themselves on the wrong end of a double header sweep as they dropped a pair of contests to the York University Panthers on Sunday (Mar. 16).
Game One- York-8 McPherson-7
The Bulldogs were able to crack the scoreboard in the first frame of the contest as a York error allowed
Jace Essig to score the first run of the game while
Marcus Patton followed that up with a two run RBI double to give MC a 3-0 lead before the Panthers were even able to blink. It didn't take long for York to bring the fight back to MC as a pair of runs scored in the bottom half of the first and second innings made it a 3-2 lead for MC.
Braden Schiffner pushed the lead back up to two runs as he secured an RBI single in the top of the fourth inning, but the Panthers were ready to bring the noise in the bottom of the fifth. A two run RBI single tied the contest up at four runs apiece while a wild pitch right after gave York a 5-4 lead heading into the sixth inning where York added onto their lead with a fielder's choice resulted in a run scoring to make it 6-4.
The game was far from done as
Colin Evers secured an RBI single in the seventh inning for MC to trim the lead to just one run. Essig and
Peyton Starr came up big in the eighth inning with RBIs to give MC a 7-6 lead, but York answered right back with a two run homerun to make it an 8-7 York lead heading into the final inning. The Bulldogs were unable to answer and York took game one by the skin of their teeth.
Game Two- York-17 McPherson-9
It was another hot start for MC as
Jace Essig and
Peyton Starr kicked things off with back to back solo homeruns in the top of the first inning to give the Bulldogs a quick 2-0 lead to start the contest. In a similar fashion to game one, the Panthers wasted no time striking back as they scored four runs in the bottom half of the first highlighted by a two run homerun to take a 4-2 lead. York continued to roll in the second inning with another two run homerun to extend the lead out to four runs.
Despite the deficit, the Bulldogs refused to quit and put together a huge fourth inning. Ky'rell Tayolr got it started with an RBI single to score
Colin Evers and trim the York lead to 6-3 and
Braden Schiffner followed him up with a sacrifice fly to score
Marcus Patton to cut the lead down to just two runs. Starr was able to flip the game on its head as he hit a massive grand slam to give MC an 8-6 lead and cap off the inning.
Things rapidly spiraled downhill for the Bulldogs in the York half of the fourth inning as the Panthers saw the six runs MC scored in the top half of the inning and countered with a five run inning to retake the lead. Unlike the Panthers, the Bulldogs had no response to the offensive explosion as York continued to add to their lead and only surrendered one more run as they took game two with the final score being 17-9.
The Bulldogs will look to avoid the series sweep as they face off with York in game three of the series tomorrow, March 17. First pitch is set for 11:00 a.m.
