Joe Riddle

The Master’s College Mustangs came out strong today in their first game of the weekend against the Arizona Christian University Firestorm.  Strong pitching, combined with a ferocious offense, led the Mustangs to a resounding 10-1 victory.  The Mustangs improve to 13-5, and the Firestorm drop to 6-7.  The Mustangs are now first the GSAC with a 9-4 conference record.

Mustang starting pitcher AJ Work (Boise, ID) threw for six complete innings, allowing only two hits and no runs.  His record improves to an impressive 5-1. Work was followed by Tucker Richardson (Modesto, CA), who pitched one inning, and Dalton Thompson (Riverside, CA), who pitched in the eighth and ninth innings.  Thompson walked two, and gave up one hit and one run.

The Mustang offense was on fire today, scoring two runs in the first inning, four in the third, and four more in the fifth.  Jon Popadics (Boise, ID), Steven Karkenny (Chatsworth, CA), Spencer Downs (Kelso, WA), Joe Riddle (Bakersfield, CA), and Ryan Shackelford (Murrieta, CA) led the team, scoring nine of the teams ten runs while driving in a combined eight RBIs.  Riddle singlehandedly scored all four runs in the third when he blasted a grand slam over the right field wall, his second home run of the year.

Alika Pruett, starting pitcher for the Firestorm, threw only five innings and recorded all ten of the Mustang’s earned runs; however, he did manage to chalk up four strikeouts before turning things over to reliever Cody Honea.  Honea pitched three complete innings, allowing three hits and no runs.  He struck out three.

Arizona’s only run came in the top of the eighth when Tyler Osborne hit Dalton Thompson’s first pitch deep over the left-centerfield wall.

TMC and Arizona will face off again tomorrow in a doubleheader. First pitch will be thrown at 11 a.m.