Mustangs, Pioneers split Friday doubleheader

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- MidAmerica Nazarene scored three times in their final at-bat to claim the opener, 5-2, before Mount Mercy used a seven-run second inning to run-rule the Pioneers, 10-2, in game two of Friday's Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader at Busse Field.

Both teams scored twice in the second inning of game one, The Mustang runs came courtesy of a Raquel Trolliet sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single by Ashley Smith. No one scored again until the seventh when the Pioneers' Nyah Brown hit a two-run single and then scored on a wild pitch. Ashley Smith finished 2-for-4 with an RBI. Kalli Minger (6-11) went the distance, scattering seven hits with three strikeouts over seven innings.

Mount Mercy (18-18, 6-8 Heart) was fast out of the gate in game two, scoring all 10 of their runs in the first two frames. Annika Headington drew a bases-loaded walk, followed by a run-scoring single by Sara Heick and an RBI groundout by Sam Lee to make it 3-0. The floodgates opened in the second inning as Natalie Tecklenburg's three-run double capped the seven-run inning.

Tecklenburg was 1-for-2 with three RBIs while Headington and Lee drove in two runs each. Alyssa McElvain (10-7) allowed just one earned run on five hits while striking out three and walking one over five innings.

The Mustangs face a six-game road swing next, beginning with a rescheduled Heart matchup with Clarke on Sunday at 1:00 pm at Veterans Memorial Park in Dubuque. Next weekend, Mount Mercy is at Peru State on Saturday at noon before a doubleheader at Park on Sunday at 1:00 pm in Parkville, Mo.