PCM baseball stays hot, cruises past Saydel

PRAIRIE CITY — Prairie City-Monroe baseball coach Jeff Lindsay has a good problem this season.

No matter how he sets up his lineup, a handful of Mustangs produce at the plate almost every night.

During PCM’s five-game win streak, it seems to be a different guy every night, too.

On Wednesday, Reed Worth, Dane Owens, Olin Meinders and Preston Van Wyk all had two hits apiece, and PCM rolled past Saydel 10-0 in six innings during a Heart of Iowa Conference home game.

“We haven’t had to depend on just three or four guys. It’s been different guys every night,” Lindsay said.

Another big reason for the five-game win streak has been strong pitching. Derek Brown gave the Mustangs another excellent start on the hill, collecting his second complete-game win in six days.

Brown tossed six innings against Saydel, surrendering only two hits and two walks while striking out eight. It was his first shutout of the season and his earned run average is now 1.75.

Brown (2-1) needed only 79 pitches to get through six innings Wednesday.

“He’s locating his pitches better. He’s getting ahead in the count,” Lindsay said. “That’s allowing him to be more efficient with his pitch count.”

Brown struck out the side in the first inning.

Worth opened the bottom of the first with a hard line-drive single to left field. In the second inning, Worth delivered a bases-clearing, three-run double to the gap in left-center field.

“I was looking to hit the first pitch of the inning because I figured he’d try to throw one down the middle,” Worth said. “I was ready for it and trusted my hands.

“I worked the count on the second hit. I looked for another pitch in the zone, had it timed up well and smacked it.”

The Mustangs sent 12 batters to the plate in the second inning and scored six runs. Sage Burns also had an RBI hit and Caleb Duinink had an RBI hit by pitch.

Duinink was 1-for-1 in the game and he was hit by three pitches.

PCM (7-2 overall, 4-2 in conference play) was retired in order in the third, but went up 9-0 after three runs came across in the fourth. Owens produced an RBI single and Duinink’s only hit of the game was a two-run single.

“We are starting to get more guys involved on a regular basis,” Lindsay said. “That’s a real positive thing.”

The Mustangs left two runners on base in the fifth and needed the sixth to send the Eagles (1-9, 1-5) home early.

Duinink was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and his courtesy runner Kaeden Van Soelen went to third on a single by Van Wyk.

A Saydel throwing error allowed Van Soelen to score his second run of the game.

“I like the way we are playing right now,” Lindsay said. “We are capable of playing like this on a consistent basis.”

Worth is one of the Mustangs who hasn’t fully gotten going at the plate yet, but he had two hits, three RBIs, one run, one walk and two steals in the win.

“It’s nice to see that it’s not always the same person doing big things each night,” Worth said. “Tonight, several of us had good nights. It’s fun to see so many guys producing.”

PCM continues its busy week with a road game against Albia at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in Albia. The Mustangs also play in a tournament on Saturday and play five games next week.

“We’ll need our pitchers to continue to be efficient with such a busy stretch coming up,” Lindsay said. “We need some guys to step up. The pitching is doing the job for us right now though.”