McPHERSON, Kan. — In a series defined by adversity, the Bulldogs came together to complete a comeback in game one and completely dominated in game two against the Avila University Eagles on Saturday (Mar. 29).
GAME ONE- McPherson-16 Avila-11
Down 10-1 heading into the middle innings of the contest and the lone run coming off a
Luke Nordean RBI double that brought home
Ky'rell Taylor in the second inning, the odds were heavily stacked against MC. The vibe started to change when
Dyron Dixon bagged an RBI single followed up by two straight RBI doubles, the first by
Colin Evers bringing home a pair of runs to cut the lead down to five.
Braden Schiffner and
Jace Essig followed that up with a pair of RBI singles, making it a 10-8 lead for Avila, and had the Bulldogs on the doorstep of flipping the script of the game.
Peyton Starr decided to completely kick down the door and smash a three run homerun to give MC the 11-10 lead.
The Bulldogs, now in full command and having the Eagles completely dumfounded by what just occurred, civilized even further in the seventh inning. A bases loaded walk of
Jared Kramp brought home
Dalton Thomas was followed by an Essig RBI single and a throwing error to score two more runs. Starr once again came up big with a huge two run RBI single to push the lead out to six.
Avila was able to push across one more run off a wild pitch in the eighth, but the momentum was all to the Bulldogs as they held on and took game one 16-11 and made game two of the doubleheader the series decider.
GAME TWO- McPherson-9 Avila-1
Peyton Starr once again came up big in a massive spot for the Bulldogs in the top of the first inning as he blasted his second three run homerun of the day to quickly give MC a 3-0 lead and set the tone for game two.
Jace Essig continued the power surge for MC in the third with a solo homerun into center field to put MC up four heading into the middle innings.
Starting pitcher
Hunter Boneau put in one of the strongest showings by an MC starter this year as he was absolutely locked in on the mound, only surrendering four hits and one run in his six innings of work to go along with five strikeouts as he kept the Eagles off the scoreboard until the fifth inning.
The offense kept rolling for MC in the fourth inning as a
Braden Schiffner two run RBI double and Essig's second homerun of the day being good for three runs grew the lead to eight runs. Avila had no answer to MC as the Bulldogs bagged a 9-1 victory in game two of the day and game three of the series to claim a big conference series win.
MC will hit the road for a quick non-conference single game clash as they face off against the No. 18 ranked team in the country in the Mid-America Christian Evangels on Tuesday, April 1. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
