QUICK HITS

• Result: MBU 1-12 Hannibal-LaGrange
• Venue: The Corn Crib, Normal, Ill.
• Attendance: 39
• Record: Maranatha is now 0-9

THE LEAD

NORMAL, Ill. -- The Hannibal-LaGrange Trojans only needed 7 innings to take a 12-1 win over the Sabercats at the Corn Crib.

The Sabercats were charged with 5 errors and were held to just 3 hits on the day. Ryan Hempel extended his hitting streak to 7 games - the rookie has 12 hits in the last 7 outings for MBU.

THE STORY

The Trojans scored in chunks, and they got things started in the bottom of the second by plating 4 runs off of 2 MBU errors. After posting another run for good measure in the third, the Trojans did their terminal damage in the fourth, posting a half-dozen runs in the at-bat. After 3 Trojan singles, Seth Brown smashed an RBI triple to center field and Tim Gurnow registered an RBI double to left.

Through 4 frames, the Sabercats had just 3 hits and were sitting in a 0-11 hole.

The Trojans' bullpen did its work, as the Sabercats had a lack of thump through the last 3 innings. The only consolation came when Micah Shepard put the ball into play with 2 runners in scoring position. Shepard's grounder to second brought Hempel home and moved Jordan Garrison to third, but the Sabercats stranded Garrison 90 feet away after the next 2 batters were retired.

Another bright spot for MBU came on the defensive side of things, when Nate Croswell, Shepard, and Cody Kuhl turned a 1-6-3 double play, but as the day went, the bright spots were few and far between for the Sabercats. This game really was a snapshot of the season for MBU so far.

The Trojans scored one last run in the bottom of the sixth inning, just for good measure. All in all, HLGU scored 12 runs - 5 unearned - off 11 hits on the day.

THE STATS

Hempel now leads the Sabercats with 13 hits on the season.

Elijah May and Tim Kinzler were the other Sabercats with singles on the day. May's single to center pushed his season total to 10 hits.

Croswell and David Hecker pitched the last 3 innings and gave up just 1 earned run between them.

HLGU's Justin French tossed 4 innings, struck out 8 batters, and allowed one earned run.

THE CALENDAR

The Sabercats will travel to Wisconsin Lutheran College to take on the Warriors Thursday in a 9-inning game at 4 p.m. Catch the details at mbusabercats.com/composite.