Short-sleeve shirts from earlier in the week gave way to blankets and coats for the crowd as Midland split a doubleheader with Dordt College on Wednesday.
The cold weather matched the offensive effort of the Warriors as they dropped the first game 3-0, but came back to win the second 4-1.
“We’ve got to work harder and be more competitive,” said Midland coach Jef Field said. “I’m not satisfied with a split of this doubleheader. I hope the players aren’t either. We have to come into these games and expect to win these things.”
Midland ended its first game scoring drought in the bottom of the first inning of the nightcap. A two-out double to the warning track in right center by freshman Nolan Koehn gave the Warriors their first hit of the inning.
Koehn scored from second base as sophomore Matt Huggins dropped a shallow fly ball into left field to claim a 1-0 lead heading into the top of the second inning.
Defensively, the Warriors’ struggles of the first game disappeared. After a three-errors in the opener, the Warriors picked it up in the second game.
In the top of the third, an infield single by Eric Van Maanen gave the Dordt its first hit of the game.
Van Maanen would advance to second on a single by Jed Bennett, but Midland pitcher Mike Burdine got Dillon Peters to go down swinging to end the inning, stranding two runners. The sophomore struck out nine in six innings of work.
“It’s so much easier to know you’ve got your defense behind you,” Burdine said. “It has kind of been a pattern of ours lately. In the first game our bats don’t come out and in the second game they come alive. The same thing happened today and it was nice to get the lead. It helped calm me down a little bit.”
In the bottom half of the inning, the Warriors pushed across another run. Chris Kortus’ dribbler to the pitcher was bobbled, giving him enough time to get to first. After a sacrifice bunt moved the freshman over to second, a base hit up the middle by junior Trevor Womack scored him.
“We did a better job in the second game, but we had only seven hits in a doubleheader and that’s not enough to win games,” Field said. “Offensively, we’ve got to be able to put some runs on the board so our pitchers can relax a bit. We’re not doing real well with our run support at times.”
After MLC added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, Dordt finally got on the board. A hot shot down the third-base line by Josh Bowers scored Scott Van Zanten. Bowers was left stranded on third as Burdine got a ground ball for the second out and the strikeout to end the inning and the Defenders’ threat.
For Midland (4-10), TJ Stosich got the save as Burdine grabbed his first win of the year. He allowed five hits and walked two.
In the first game, three Midland errors helped the Dordt get on the scoreboard. The Defenders also scattered eight hits, including three by Travis De Jong. Midland’s lone hit came as Kortus doubled in the third inning.
JD Shoemaker picked up the loss for the Warriors, striking out seven and allowing seven hits on one earned run.
“That first game is not a ball game we should have lost,” Field said. “It’s disappointing. It’s nice to bounce back in the second game, but if you are going to contend in this conference you can’t split doubleheaders. Nothing against Dordt, but we just weren’t very competitive in that first game.”
Midland takes on Wayne State College on Friday in one, nine-inning game. The first pitch is slated for 5 p.m.
First game
Midland 000 000 00
Dordt 001 101 13
Second game
Midland 101 200 04
Dordt 000 010 01
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