Baseball Knocks off Aquinas to Improve to 3-1 at RussMatt
Lakeland, FL – After a pitching dual played out yesterday, a shootout broke out between the Hastings College baseball team and Aquinas (MI) on Sunday morning as the Broncos prevailed 12-8.
Lakeland, FL – After a pitching dual played out yesterday, a shootout broke out between the Hastings College baseball team and Aquinas (MI) on Sunday morning as the Broncos prevailed 12-8.
Hastings got the game started with a bang as Jaden Stone reached first with a one out walk and after he stole second, Mason Masur blasted his first career home run over the left field fence for the 2-0 lead.
Then in the second inning, Antonio Rigney picked up a two out single followed by a single from Trent Smith as Rigney used his speed to get to third. The double steal was now on at Smith got himself into a pickle and again Rigney used his speed and stole home before Smith was tagged out to make it a 3-0 ball game.
In the third, Masur picked up his third RBI of the game when he doubled home Stone to make it 4-1.
Then the game took a wild turn in the sixth inning. Noah Miranda began the inning with a single followed by a Caleb Duinink double putting runners on second and third with no outs. Miranda came home when Tristan Martinez reached on an error. Rigney picked up an RBI with a sac fly to right. Two batters later, Stone singled to left to plate Smith and then the fifth run of the inning scored when Valdez scored on Ethan Rolfe's fielder's choice. HC was up 9-1 at this point and felt in control until the bottom half reared its ugly head.
Aquinas would pick up five runs without recording a hit to make it 9-6. But the Broncos would get some breathing room when Smith tripled to left bringing home two runs. He then scored on Valdez's sac fly to left to make it 12-6.
The Saints would get two more runs in the bottom of the seventh but Jaden Driscoll shut them down over the final two innings as the Broncos have now won three in a row for the first time since 2021.
Masur went 2-for-3 with a career high three RBIs and a run scored. Duinink went 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Stone and Smith both finished the game with two hits.
Markus Miller picked up the win by going 5.0 innings giving up just one run on two hits with seven strikeouts. Driscoll gave up no runs in 3.0 innings of work while giving up four hits.
Hastings is now 6-10 on the year and will be back in action Monday at 11:00 am as the Broncos will face No. 1 Southeastern in a doubleheader down in Lakeland, FL.
