Mustangs can’t slow down No. 6 Gilbert

PRAIRIE CITY — Prairie City-Monroe’s baseball team needed to play a near perfect game to have success against Class 3A No. 6 Gilbert on Thursday. And even perfection may not have been enough.

Unfortunately, Gilbert had other ideas. The Tigers, winners of 11 of their last 12 games, got off to a fast start and never let off the gas in a 17-0, four-inning victory in Heart of Iowa Conference play.

Gilbert scored 10 runs in the first inning, cranked out nine hits in the game, walked seven times and took advantage of four PCM errors in winning its third straight.

“They are a really salty team first and foremost,” PCM coach Shaun Hudnut said. “They have guys that can hit 1-9. The second part of that though comes down to us making pitches and hitting locations. We have kids that are working hard at it, but we have to perform better on the mound.”

The Mustangs also had just two hits against Gilbert’s ace, Evan Johnson. Austin Brown laced the first pitch he saw from Johnson for a single in the first inning and then Clay Clooper smoked a double to the gap in right-center field in the fourth.

“Offensively, I am happy with how we played. The Johnson kid is tough and he has been averaging 10-15 strikeouts every game and I think he only five through four tonight,” Hudnut said. “We had some good hard hits and the swings have come along for us the past two weeks and that’s important for us.”

The top of Gilbert’s lineup wreaked havoc all night. No. 1 hitter Nick Day had two hits, a walk and four runs, while No. 2 hitter Dax Hatfield reached base four times, scored four runs and drove in two.

Zach Paul, the clean-up hitter had two hits and three RBIs and Jared Gescheidler hit a two-run homer during the 10-run first inning and finished with three RBIs.

“We have struggled to get out of the first few innings without giving up runs and then you’re playing in a hole the entire game,” Hudnut said. “That puts some unwanted pressure on you and that’s been something we’ve been trying to fix.

Gunnar Davis started on the mound for the Mustangs, but was pulled after recording just two outs in the first inning. Chase Keuning did not give up a hit in his 1 1/3 innings, but Clay Cooper and Noah Clark both pitched for the first time this year and allowed a combined seven runs, three hits and five walks.

“Obviously the pitching didn’t go the way we wanted it to go tonight,” Hudnut said. “We have five games this week so we didn’t want to use a lot of our top guys. We are stretched thin at the varsity level anyway.

“We brought Keuning in to get out of the inning but we want to have him available for (Friday). There is no sense wasting our best guys when we’re down 10-0. You just try to get through it the best you can.”

PCM (6-14 overall, 4-10 in the HOIC) also got a walk from Connor Warrick in the second inning.

Gilbert improved to 24-4 overall and 16-1 in the HOIC after the win.

The Mustangs, who have lost four of their last five and two straight, host Greene County in HOIC play at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Notebook

Keuning got the final out of the first inning and struck out two Tigers in the top of the second. He stranded Johnson on first base after he reached on an error. ... Gilbert’s Hatfield will play baseball and football at Grand View University and Gescheidler is an Iowa State football signee.