The No. 9 Central Methodist baseball team picked up two key road wins over Mount Mercy University Saturday afternoon in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

Sunday, however, was a different story as the Eagles split a doubleheader, winning the first game 6-5 before losing the second, 12-3. With the pair of wins, Central improves to 30-7 and 16-4 in the conference. Mount Mercy falls to 22-12 and 12-6 in Heart play.

Saturday

CMU-4

Mount Mercy-2

CMU began the series with an eight-inning 4-2 victory on Saturday. Central trailed 2-1 entering the top of the sixth, before a single from junior Robbie Merced drove in sophomore Bobby Nichols from second to tie the game. Both sides were unable to 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 senior Jerome Simpson and Merced. Senior ace Nick Merkel retired the side in order in the bottom half of the frame, giving Central the 4-2 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 senior Grant Victor were the only Eagles to record multi-hit games, as Victor recorded an RBI-double, and Nichols went two-for-four with a run scored.

Saturday

CMU-8

Mount Mercy-5

The Eagles secured the Saturday sweep with an 8-5 victory in the nightcap. 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. 

Senior Beau Atkins pushed his record to a perfect 5-0, pitching six complete innings. Atkins gave up only one earned run on eight hits with six strikeouts. Junior Tyler Vicars came on in relief for the final inning to preserve the victory. 

Sophomore Tommaso Giarola had a perfect day at the plate, going four-for-four with an RBI double and an RBI single. Sophomore Khalil Thrasher went two-for-three and drove in three runners including a two-RBI sacrifice fly.  Senior Jeff Vance matched Thrasher with two hits, both doubles. 

Sunday

CMU-6

Mount Mercy-5

CMU edged Mount Mercy in the first game on Sunday 6-5. The bulk of Central's runs came in the second inning. Following RBI singles from sophomore Bobby Nichols and senior Grant Victor, sophomore Tommaso Giarola sent a three-run home run over the left field fence to push Central in front by five runs. Mount Mercy plated one run in the fourth before CMU responded in the top of the fifth on an RBI-double to right centerfield from junior Cole Luedeking. 

The Mustangs slowly chipped away at the lead through the final three innings of work, including two runs in the seventh. With the tying run on second base, sophomore Nino Puckett got the final out of the game on a groundout to third to preserve the win. 

Freshman Tanner Sears and junior Logan McDonald both went two-for-three, incuding a double for McDonald and a triple for Sears. Ludeking and senior Jeff Vance also recorded extra base hits. Sophomore center fielder Bobby Nichols swiped two bases in game one, setting a new single-season program record for stolen bases (39). The previous record of 38 was held by Bill Roth for more than 30 years. 

Sophomore Sebastian Escobar pushed his record to 7-1 on the hill, tossing 5.2 innings and giving up three earned runs on six hits and eight strikeouts. Junior Tyler Vicars came on in relief in the sixth to close the inning, followed by Puckett for the seventh. Puckett would go on to earn the save, his fourth of the 2022 campaign. 

Sunday

CMU-12

Mount Mercy-3

Central closed the series with a 12-3 loss to Mount Mercy. The Eagles scored the opening two runs of the game in the first inning on a two-RBI single from Luedeking. Mount Mercy’s offense plated four runs in the third, and six in the fifth, propelling them to a nine-run victory. 

Freshman Tanner Sears batted a perfect three-for-three with one run scored, while Luedeking went two-for-four and drove in three runs for CMU. Junior Ryan Jeffers got the start on the mound, tossing three complete innings. Juniors Tyler Vicars and Anthony G. Rodriguez saw action in the fourth and fifth innings, before giving way to senior Micah Blankenship who pitched the final inning. 

Central returns home to host MidAmerica Nazarene University for a huge weekend series beginning Friday at 1 p.m. at Estes Field.