The Muskies dropped to 6-10 in conference play Sunday, losing two games to Dominican University. This extends their losing streak to six games.
Errors and the inability to get clutch hits would ultimately be what cost Muskies the games. They went down 7-3 in Game 1 and 11-5 in Game 2.
Senior Garrett Morris took the mound in the first game. He pitched eight innings, giving up four runs, allowing seven hits, and striking out nine. Reliever Ryan Krzyzkowski came in to finish the ninth, allowing three runs, on two hits and two walks.
The Muskie offense continued to struggle and wasn’t able to finally break through until the sixth inning, when sophomore Andrew Tague delivered a two-run double. Then in the seventh inning, Mike Ruzek had an RBI single that tied the game 3-3.
Unfortunately, the Muskies fell apart in the ninth when Dominican put up four runs to put the Muskies away.
Ryan Boettcher and Ruzek had the best offensive performances for the Muskies, Boettcher going 3-4, and Ruzek finishing 3-5.
In Game 2 Andy Chitwood got the start, as well as the loss. The Muskie defense simply didn’t show up for Chitwood, committing 6 errors. Chitwood allowed eight runs, just two of which were earned. Reliever Justin Reminger then came in pitching two innings, allowing three runs, on four hits. Trent Schwalbach pitched the ninth, allowing three hits.
Dominican started off the game quickly, putting up two runs, but the Muskies would answer right back scoring, two runs in the bottom of the inning. The fifth through the eighth innings would doom the Muskies, as they committed five errors and gave up eight runs.
The Muskies showed a little life in the seventh, putting up three runs, but never really threatening the Dominican lead.
The weekend’s losses have severely dampened any hopes the Muskies had of making the conference tournament.
“It’s disappointing.” Ruzek said. “We’re going to have to play perfect baseball from here on out to have any hope of making playoffs.”
This Wednesday, April 25, the Muskies look to snap out of their losing skid at home against non-conference opponent Carthage College. The first pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.