St. Louis, Mo. - The No. 10 Central Methodist baseball team swept the Clay Pfeiffer Memorial Tournament, hosted by Missouri Baptist University this weekend in St. Louis, Mo.
Other teams in the tournament included; Peru State, host Missouri Baptist and No. 12 Indiana Tech. The Eagles stormed back to defeat MBU 8-5 Saturday and swept Indiana Tech Sunday by scores of 8-2 and 4-1.
With the three wins, CMU improves to 13-2 overall.
Trailing Missouri Baptist 5-3 in the top of the seventh inning, a walk from Logan Haring and back-to-back singles from Sergio Macias and Mason Schwellenbach loaded the bases for Jeff Vance. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Vance hit a grand slam to right field to clear the bases and give Central a 7-5 lead. Back-to-back doubles from Grant Victor and Devon Garcia gave CMU its final run of the game.
Macias then came in to pitch the final half inning to earn the save.
In the first game against No. 12 Indiana Tech, the Eagle bats peppered the Warrior pitching staff with runs in five of the six innings, earning an 8-2 victory. Kenny Otero and Mason Schwellenbach each picked up two RBI and a home run, while Deshawn Cole collected two RBI highlighted by an RBI double.
Schwellenbach improved his record to 4-0 overall, pitching five complete innings and giving up two runs on four hits with four strikeouts. Nino Puckett and Dylan Brister each pitched in an inning, as Brister retired the side including a strikeout in the seventh.
The Eagles' offense jumped out in front early in game two, scoring three runs in the first inning. After doubling to left field, Otero went on to score the first run of the game on an error by the Warrior's second basemen. Schwellenbach then stepped up in the batter's box and hit a two-run home run to centerfield to give the Eagles a 3-0 lead.
Haring solidified CMU's win with a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning. Junior pitcher Nick Merkel pushed his overall record to 4-0 on the bump, pitching a complete game and giving up only one run on three hits. He also struck out seven batters and only gave up one walk.
The Eagles open Heart play with a four-game series against Evangel University beginning Friday, March 12 at 1:00 p.m. in Springfield, Mo.
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