(Peru, Neb.) – After making the Heart of America Athletic Conference Baseball Championship by percentage points, the Peru State Bobcats showed why they should be in the tourney in the first game on Thursday.
The Bobcats, eighth-seeded in the tourney, came up with ten runs in the top of the fourth inning, and went on to win 10-0 in seven innings over top-seeded Avila (Mo.) University. The Heart championship tourney is being held at the Joe Becker Stadium in Joplin, Mo.
Mark McGinnity had two hits and three RBI
in the upset win over Avila
With the win, Peru State will face fifth-seeded Baker (Kan.) University at 4 p.m. on Friday as the Wildcats pulled off a slight upset as well as they topped MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) University 5-4 in the second game of the tournament.
Avila Game Action
All of the scoring came in the top of the fourth inning.
Kadyn Glass (Redlands, Calif.) led off with a double to deep right-center.
Edwin Rodriguez (Ponce, Puerto Rico) singled to right-center with Glass moving to third.
Mark McGinnity (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) singled to shallow center to score Glass with Rodriguez moving to second. Both base runners advanced on a passed ball.
Kyle Killen (Commerce City, Colo.) singled to left to drive in both base runners and Peru State led 3-0 at that point.
Jordan Silva (Lynnwood, Wash.) doubled to deep right-center to bring home Killen. Silva would advance to third on a passed ball.
Sterling Rupp (Grand Island, Neb.) singled to center with Silva scoring. The hit parade continued with
Chet Brown (Redlands, Calif.) singling to shallow right-center.
Matthew Sontag (Davie, Fla.) came in to run for Brown at that point. Both base runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt by
Jeremy Mouton (San Jacinto, Calif.). After the second out, Glass came back to the plate and singled to bring in Rupp. Rodriguez reached on a walk to load the bases. McGinnity, in his second time at the plate, doubled to deep left with Sontag and Glass both scoring and Rodriguez advancing to third. Avila then had a pitching change and on a wild pitch, Rodriguez scored with McGinnity going to third. McGinnity would eventually score on the play as the pitcher's dropped the ball on the tag at home.
In the inning, Peru State scored ten runs on nine hits with one error on Avila.
The 'Cats scored their ten runs on 11 hits and did not commit any errors. Avila was held to just one hit and had one error.
Glass, McGinnity, and Killen each had two hits to lead Peru State. McGinnity was credited with three RBI while Killen added two. Glass, Silva, and Rupp each added one RBI each.
Andrew Robinson pitched his first complete game of his Bobcat
career as he held the Eagles to one hit
Andrew Robinson (Imperial Beach, Calif.) pitched the best game of his career as he held the Eagles to just one hit which came in the bottom of the sixth inning. Robinson struck out two. It was the first complete game of Robinson's career and it could not have come at a better time.
AVILA GAME BOOK
Upcoming Games
Peru State will face Baker at 4 p.m. on Friday. With a win, the 'Cats will play again on Saturday at 4 p.m. against the winner of either second-seeded Central Methodist (Mo.) University or third-seeded Grand View (Iowa) University who will play Friday at 7 p.m.
If the Bobcats should lose, they would play at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning against either Missouri Valley College or Culver-Stockton College. A win there would have the team playing again at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
