Santa Clarita, Calif. — On a day fit more for football than baseball, The Master’s College didn’t let the weather interfere with an offense that scored nearly at will in an 18-13 triumph over Doane of Nebraska at Lou Herwaldt Stadium.

Rapping out 14 hits and scoring the second-most runs this season in what head coach Monte Brooks described as “an amazing offensive performance”, the 10th-ranked Mustangs improved to 15-7 overall and 9-4 against non-conference foes.

They started their part of the runfest in their initial at-bat when Michael Sexton (Puyallup, WA) drove in Max Maitland (Murrieta, CA) and Collin Nyenhuis (Vista, CA) scored on a wild pitch to put the Mustangs ahead 2-1. It would be the first of six times Nyenhuis would cross the plate, tying a school record.

That slightest of leads lasted all of half an inning as the Tigers scored three times on just one hit in the top of the second hit to move in front 4-2.

Two innings later, the Mustangs equaled that output and vaulted back in front 5-4. Back-to-back doubles by Maitland and Nyenhuis ignited the frame and Sexton, who drove in a career-high five runs, followed with a two-run home run to left field, his fifth roundtripper of the season.

The Mustangs kept up the barrage in the fourth, lengthening their advantage to 7-4 when Nyenhuis slugged his team-high seventh homer of the year, a two-run blast to left field that plated John Brazil (Potter Valley, CA) ahead of him.

While the Mustang offense was just getting revved up, the pitching staff was trying to recover after giving up four early runs. They did just that from the third through the fifth frames, keeping the Tigers off the scoreboard on just two hits.

In the fifth, the Mustangs blew things open, sending 12 batters to the plate and scoring six times on four hits to take a 13-4 lead. Nick Covello opened the frame with a blast over the left field fence for his third homer of the year. Matt Janes (Riverside, CA) drew a bases-loaded walk to force in the second run of the frame and when Maitland grounded out to score Aaron Shackelford (Murrieta, CA), the Mustangs were up 10-4.

Following a walk to Nyenhuis, Sexton laced a two-run single to left field and Covello, batting for the second time in the inning, singled in Nyenhuis with the inning’s final run.

The Tigers made some noise in the sixth, scoring three runs on four hits to slice the deficit to 13-7.

An inning later, the Mustangs matched that and added another run, extending the lead to 17-7. David Sheaffer’s (Mt. Airy, NC) two-out single up the middle plated Maitland with the inning’s first run and Shackelford capped off the productive frame with a bases-clearing double to right-center field.

Just when a 10-run lead looked safe, the Tigers bit into it with a six-run inning of their own in the eighth, using just two hits to close within 17-13. The Tigers were aided by four walks and the big hit of the frame was a three-run double that made the Mustangs and their fans just a little nervous.

Nyenhuis scored the Mustangs’ final run on a wild pitch in the last of the eighth and closer Danny Lutz (Phoenix, AZ) settled any more anxieties in the top of ninth when he set the Tigers down in order to close out the win.

Sheaffer and Nyenhuis had three hits apiece to pace the Mustangs’ attack while Maitland, Sexton, and Covello had two each.

On an afternoon when the pitching staff was uncharacteristically wild (10 walks, two wild pitches, and a hit batsman), Brad Lohse (Chico, CA), who hurled three innings and gave up no earned runs, picked up his fourth (4-2) win of the season.

After a brief break to play some non-conference games, the third-place Mustangs (6-3) return to GSAC action this weekend when they host first-place Westmont (8-1) in a three-game showdown at Lou Herwaldt Stadium. Friday’s single game is scheduled for a 2:30pm start.