TABOR COLLEGE: Baseballers pick up first sweep of season
Tabor baseball team sweeps Friends 8-7, 1-0
Losing close games. Stranding runners on base. Inability to play a full seven innings.
These three things have haunted the Bluejays all season.
Finally on Saturday afternoon, Tabor did something it has been unable to do this year: sweep an opponent.
The Bluejays did just that, nipping the feisty Friends Falcons on a cool day in Hillsboro.
Eleven hits produced eight runs for the Bluejays in the opener as they outlasted the Falcons 8-7 despite leaving nine runners stranded.
Grant Brubacher's solo home run — his third of the season — was just enough to edge Friends in the nightcap, 1-0.
The Bluejays got off to a quick start in the opener, taking a 3-0 lead after the first inning with Caleb Mason going deep with a three-run homer.
Zavien Rivers went four innings on the mound, giving up seven hits and striking out two Falcons for the victory.
Rivers' shutout fell through in the top of the second inning with Friends putting up a run to pull to 3-1.
Tabor stretched its lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the third with Chance Miles decking a two-run blast to right center field.
But the Falcons wouldn't stay down, cutting the lead to 5-3 with a two-run third inning.
A one-run fourth left the Falcons doubled up at 6-3 before rallying for two more in the fifth.
The Falcons put together a furious four-run rally in the top of the sixth inning, knocking reliever Lane Frick out of the game.
Shawn Bechtold closed the door on the Falcons to pick up the save, his first of two for the day.
Tyler Marsh, Miles, and Mason each finished two for two in the opener, with Marsh and Miles each picking up two-sackers.
Going two for three, Mark George also had a double for the day.
Danny Douglass fired a three hitter in the nightcap, pitching a shutout while fanning five Falcons.
Brubacher's home run in the bottom of the first was just one of the Bluejays' five hits in an errorless game.
Fresh off a thrilling 12-11 win April 1 in Hillsboro against Kansas Wesleyan, the Bluejays' week was humbled two days later as they dropped a pair to visiting Sterling, 15-2 and 7-6.
The Bluejays' sweep raises their record to 9-21 on the year and 5-7 in the KCAC.
Tabor hosted Bethany Wednesday. Results were unavailable at press time.
The Bluejays' homestand continues with William Jewell visiting Saturday for a 1 p.m. start and St. Mary on Tuesday with games slated for 4 and 6 p.m.
