[Baseball] Crumrine's second game gem lifts Baseball Falcons to split with Mustangs
WICHITA, Kan. – Friends University sophomore pitcher Nolan Crumrine (SO/Sedgwick, Kan.) turned in arguably the best performance of his career in the Falcons' 3-1 victory over the Morningside University Mustangs in the second game today (Feb. 25) at West Side Athletic Field. The Mustangs won the earlier game by a score of 7-0.
Facing a Mustangs team that entered the nightcap averaging 13 runs over their first five games, Crumrine held Morningside hitless into the sixth inning and allowed just one run and struck out five in his eight innings on the hill.
Vincent Vigil (FR/Tampa, Fla. ) then came on and tossed a scoreless ninth with one strikeout to earn his second save.
The Falcons began to get the offense they needed in the fifth when an infield single by Niquan Benjamin (SO/US Virgin Islands) plated Sam Engberg (JR/Kearney, Neb. ) for the game's first run.
A bases loaded walk to Caleb Coats (SO/Katy, Texas) chased home Buster Hardman (JR/American Fork, Utah) in the sixth for the Falcons' second run before Devon Lujan (SO/Olathe, Kan.) singled home Pablo Oden (SR/Hollywood, Fla.) in the seventh to make it 3-0.
The Mustangs got on the board with an RBI single from Ryan Kiolbassa in the eighth, but Crumrine buckled down and got a fly out from the dangerous Jayson Willers to strand the tying runs on base.
Benjamin, Oden and Lujan each had two hits in the second game victory for the Falcons.
In the first game, an RBI single by Kiolbassa put the Mustangs on the board in the third before Willers launched his first of two homers in the game in the fifth inning.
The Mustangs extended to a 5-0 lead when Willers' second homer, a two-run blast in the ninth inning put it out of reach.
Benjamin went 2-of-5 for the Falcons (6-7), while Willers and Aiden Bishop each went 3-of-5 in the opening game for the Mustangs (5-1) in the opener.
The Falcons will next open up KCAC action with a single game at No. 17-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University Tuesday (Feb. 28) at noon in Bartlesville, Okla.