Blue Hawks drop pair of close games to Morningside on Friday

Sagan Osborne | Dickinson State Sports Information Director

TUCSON, Ariz. – Dickinson State suffered a pair of close losses to Morningside University on Friday in Tucson, falling 3-2 in game one before dropping game two 6-4.

GAME 1

It was a low scoring affair in game one as Morningside used a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning to earn the victory. After a scoreless first two innings, the Mustangs finally pushed across a pair of runs when a bases loaded error scored a pair of runners to put MU up 2-0.

In the sixth inning, the Blue Hawks finally broke through. Keanu Calamayan tripled to deep right center field to start the inning, and Dawson Cortese followed up with an RBI single, before advancing to third himself on a MU error, to make it 2-1. A sacrifice fly from Derrick Calvillo one batter later knotted the score at 2-2.

After John Koronka gathered his second consecutive scoreless relief inning in the bottom half of the inning, DSU was retired in order in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh Morningside was able to connect on a two-out base hit with runners at the corners to earn the 3-2 victory.

GAME 2

Errors proved costly again as four unearned runs proved the difference in a 6-4 Morningside win. The Mustangs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first two innings before the Blue Hawks answered back in the bottom half of the third inning.

Alberto Nieto singled to left field with one out to get things going and Keanu Calamayan dumped a two-out single into right to put runners at the corners for Dawson Cortese. Cortese followed with a base hit to right field making it 2-1 Mustangs and Derrick Calvillo singled to deep left center field scoring both Calamayan and Cortese to give DSU a 3-2 lead.

The lead didn't last long, however, as an error, a triple, and a sacrifice fly gave Morningside a 4-3 lead with one out in the fourth inning. The Mustangs added two more runs in the top half of the fifth inning on an infield hit with two outs to stretch their lead to 6-3.

The Blue Hawks got a run back after Jacob Clinton led off with a triple and scored on an error, but that was as close as they would get as Morningside was able to hold them scoreless the rest of the game.

WHATS NEXT

The Blue Hawks will take on NCAA Division II Bemidji State and Ottawa University-Arizona Saturday in Tucson.