MOBERLY, Mo. — Milwaukee Area Technical College baseball endured a challenging weekend on the road, dropping all four games of its series at Moberly Area Community College between Friday and Saturday. The Stormers fell 10–9 and 9–3 in Friday's doubleheader before dropping Saturday's contests 11–1 and 12–2, both in six innings.
MATC showed flashes of strong offensive execution throughout the weekend — particularly in Friday's opener, where the Stormers rallied late and nearly completed a comeback — but Moberly's timely hitting and ability to capitalize on miscues proved decisive across the series. The Greyhounds consistently generated early offense and dictated the tempo in all four matchups.
"It was a tough weekend for the boys," MATC head coach
Caleb Bounds said. "We definitely had opportunities to win a couple games even though not all scores showed that. We have to learn how to finish games. We blew multiple games in the fifth inning or later…it's still early and we have a lot of things we can improve on. Now we are heading into region play, and so the guys are going to need to lock in and start playing better ball."
Game 1: Moberly 10, MATC 9 (7 innings)
MATC's lineup generated traffic throughout the opener and kept pressure on the Greyhounds' pitching staff, but a handful of defensive miscues and timely Moberly hits ultimately swung the game in the home team's favor. The Stormers built a five‑run lead before the bullpen surrendered a six‑run seventh inning that ended on a walk‑off RBI single.
MATC opened with two runs in the first on an RBI double from
Hayden Fellows and an RBI single from
Gavin Garnica. Moberly answered with a three‑run bottom half, highlighted by a solo homer off starter Jacob Lequia.
The Stormers responded quickly, as
Carson Sieler launched a two‑run homer in the second and Fellows followed with a two‑run shot of his own. Lequia later issued a bases‑loaded walk in the fifth to trim the lead to 6–4, but
Jaiden Jung added an RBI single in the sixth and
Austin Arnold and
Easton Morehouse delivered RBI singles in the seventh to push the margin to 9–4.
Moberly's decisive rally came in the bottom of the seventh, where four hits, four walks and a defensive error fueled a six‑run inning that completed the comeback.
Lequia worked 4.1 innings, allowing four hits and four unearned runs with four walks and two strikeouts.
Max Nottingham took the loss, giving up six runs (one earned) on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts over 2.1 innings. Fellows paced the offense, going 2‑for‑4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
Game 2: Moberly 9, MATC 3 (7 innings)
MATC held a 3–1 lead through four innings before a seven‑run fifth by Moberly proved to be the turning point. The Greyhounds produced four hits in the inning, including a three‑run homer, to seize control.
The Stormers were unable to recover, managing only one baserunner over the final two innings.
Ethan Engelbrecht took the loss, allowing five runs on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts. He also surrendered a solo homer in the second. Fellows and
Payten Jibben provided MATC's early spark with back‑to‑back home runs to open the fourth, and Morehouse added an RBI single later in the inning.
Game 3: Moberly 11, MATC 1 (6 innings)
MATC was outhit 13–5 in Saturday's opener, as Moberly controlled the game from the start. The Greyhounds scored twice in the first inning, then added a three‑run fifth and a six‑run sixth to trigger the run rule.
Brady Johnson supplied the Stormers' lone run with a solo homer in the fourth. Garnica added a double and a single, while
Lucas Hernandez went 1‑for‑1 with a double.
Jibben struck out 10 over five innings but took the loss after allowing five runs.
Game 4: Moberly 12, MATC 2 (6 innings)
The series finale followed a familiar pattern, with Moberly jumping ahead early and maintaining pressure throughout. MATC was limited to two hits and committed five defensive errors.
Garnica drove in Arnold with an RBI single in the third to cut the deficit to 3–1, but Moberly broke the game open in the fifth with four RBI singles and three additional runs aided by defensive miscues.
Riley Emons scored in the sixth after reaching on an error, but the Greyhounds added two more runs in the bottom half to secure another run‑rule win.
Jerry Vasek took the loss, allowing three runs on six hits over four innings with two walks and four strikeouts.
UP NEXT
MATC (3–9) returns to action on Saturday, March 7, traveling to Carl Sandburg College for a road doubleheader in Galesburg, Ill. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m., with Game 2 to follow at 2:30 p.m. as the Stormers continue their early‑season non‑region slate.
