Cedar Rapids, Iowa - The No. 9 Central Methodist baseball team picked up two key road wins over Mount Mercy University Saturday afternoon in Cedar Rapids Iowa.
With the pair of wins, Central improves to 29-6 and 15-3 in the conference. Mount Mercy falls to 21-11 and 11-5 in Heart play.
CMU began the series with a 4-2 victory in eight innings. Central found themselves trailing 2-1 entering the top of the sixth, before a single from Robbie Merced drove in Bobby Nichols from second. Both sides could not plate any runners in the seventh and the game went to extra innings.
Cole Luedeking broke the deadlock in the top of the eighth, as the junior outfielder doubled to right center to score both Jerome Simpson and Merced. Senior ace Nick Merkel retired the side in order in the bottom half of the frame, as Central went on to earn the game one victory.
Merkel tossed all eight innings, giving up only two earned runs on five hits. He struck out 12 batters en-route to his eighth win of the year. Merkel now has 26 career wins through two and a half seasons with Central, matching the program record currently held by Mason Schwellenbach (2019-21).
Nichols and Grant Victor were the only Eagles to record multi-hit games, as Victor recorded an RBI-double and Nichols batted .500 with a run scored.
The Eagles then secured the Saturday sweep with an 8-5 victory in game two. CMU jumped out in front with three runs in the first two innings to take a 3-0 lead. After the Mustangs responded with a run in the bottom of the third, Central added three runs in the fourth. CMU padded its lead with two runs in the seventh. Despite Mount Mercy scoring twice, they were unable to come any closer, as Central earned the three-run victory.
Beau Atkins pushed his record to a perfect 5-0, pitching six complete innings. The Riverton, Ill. native gave up only one earned run on eight hits with six strikeouts. Tyler Vicars came in relief for the the final inning of work to preserve the victory.
Tommaso Giarola had a perfect day at the plate, batting four-of-four with an RBI-double and an RBI-single. Khalil Thrasher batted two-of-three and drove in three runners including a two-RBI sacrifice fly. Jeff Vance matched Thrasher with two hits, both being doubles.
The Eagles close the series with two games Sunday afternoon beginning at 1:00 p.m.
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