Muscatine baseball wins first MAC game in split against West

Yet figuring out a way into the win column in the Mississippi Athletic Conference has been a struggle.

The Muskies were able to experience a breakthrough on Monday night.

Five runs in the second inning gave them a cushion and they salvaged a split against Davenport West with a 9-1 triumph in the nightcap of a doubleheader at the West Athletic Complex.

Liam Burke and Keegan McAtee each had two hits and a double in helping Muscatine (8-11, 1-7 MAC) garner the Game 2 victory. Burke and Declan Maher drove in two runs apiece.

The Falcons conquered the opener 7-3. They ballooned their 2-1 lead with a five-run sixth. Xavier Lerma recorded a double and two RBIs for Muscatine.

West Liberty 14-10, Tipton 4-5: Spurred by an offensive explosoion in the opener and eight unanswered runs in the nightcap, the Comets cruised past the Tigers in a River Valley Conference doubleheader on Monday.

Trailing 4-1 after one inning in Game 1, West Liberty (10-5) erupted for nine runs in the second to lead for good and then added three insurance runs in the third. In Game 2, the Comets plated four runs in the first and tallied two runs apiece in the second, fourth and fifth frames.

Tyler Jones recorded three RBIs in the opener for West Liberty while Drake Collins and Collin Cassady each drove in two runs. Collins earned the win on the mound in Game 1. Collins plus Morgan Lehman drove in two runs in Game 2 with Ryan Cassady notching two hits.

Durant 16-16, West Branch 7-0: For the third straight game, the Wildcats plated exactly 16 runs as they snared a River Valley Conference sweep over the Bears on Monday.

The opener featured Durant (10-7) scoring at least a run in six of the seven innings and multiple tallies in four of them. It briefly trailed 4-3 before erupting for a five-run second. In the nightcap, the Wildcats busted out a six runs in the first and fifth and plated four in the fourth.

Charlie Huesmann roped three hits and drove in five runs in Game 1 for Durant while Brady Meincke had three hits, including a home run. Nolan DeLong, Ryan Wulf, Isaac Nielsen and Huesmann all recorded two hits and two RBIs in Game 2.

Van Buren County 10, Louisa-Muscatine 1: The Falcons dug themselves an early hole and couldn’t get out of it in a Southeast Iowa Super Conference loss to the Warriors on Monday night.

Four runs in the bottom of the first put Van Buren County ahead for good. L-M (6-6) avoided the shutout with a run in the third on an RBI from Kendal Pugh that scored Chris Day.

Day registered two hits and a pair of stolen bases for the Falcons. Their defense recorded five errors.

Central Lee 15, Wapello 0: Eight runs in the second inning pushed the Hawks to a blowout Southeast Iowa Super Conference triumph over the Indians on Monday night.

Wapello (1-9) has lost six in a row and have given up double digit runs four of the setbacks. Casey Short notched a hit and a stolen base for the Indians as they came undone with three errors, four total walks and three hit batsmen.

Muscatine 16-15, Clinton 1-1: The Muskies breezed past the River Queens at Durgin Baseball and Softball complex. League-leading Muscatine racked up 33 hits during its doubleheader against Clinton.

More than half a dozen Muskie (17-1, 9-1 MAC) batters recorded more than two hits during the two-game set. Ysabel Lerma was Muscatine’s No. 1 individual performer, registering four hits.

West Liberty 15-13, Tipton 1-0: The Comets pieced together 26 hits in a River Valley Conference doubleheader sweep of the winless Tigers on Monday night in a pair of shortened-inning games.

Ten runs in the opener put West Liberty (11-5) in control and it added two more in the third and three in the fourth. All of its runs in the nightcap came within the first two innings.

Leadoff hitter Pearson Hall notched five hits, six runs scored and seven RBIs in the two games for the Comets. Brynn Cassady added five hits and five RBIs for the doubleheader while Mallory Wulf and Charlie Howard picked up wins in the circle.

Central Lee 6, Wapello 2: Speed on the basepaths allowed the Hawks to nab a victory over the Arrows on Monday night.

Five stolen bases by Central Lee helped manufacture two runs in the second, third and fifth innings. Wapello (9-6) scored once in the fifth to avoid the shutout and added another run in the seventh.

Emily Hemphill and Olyvia Malone both recorded two hits for the Arrows while Tatum Wolford and Mya Wagner drove in one run each.

Louisa-Muscatine 12, Van Buren County 8: Four runs in the top of the seventh put the Falcons on top for good as they claimed a back-and-forth victory over the Warriors on Monday.

Van Buren County opened with a 5-2 lead, then L-M (9-6) scored twice in the third and took the lead with a four-run fifth. The Warriors tied the game with a pair of runs in the sixth, but the Falcons got the last word in the seventh.

Eight of the nine hitters in L-M’s lineup recorded multiple hits as McKenzie Kissell had four and Jersey Lessenger plus Kamryn Taylor had three each. Lessenger led the Falcons with three RBIs.

Columbus 10, Holy Trinity Catholic 8: Seven combined runs in the third and fourth innings was enough for the Wildcats to stave off the Crusaders in a Southeast Iowa Super Conference tussle on Monday.

Trailing 2-1, Columbus grabbed the lead with a four-run third and added three insurance runs in the fourth. Runs in the fifth and sixth kept the Wildcats (6-5) ahead as Holy Trinity attempted a comeback with four in the bottom half of the sixth, but it wasn’t enough.

Lily Coil went 4-for-5 at the plate for Columbus while Jocelyn Fulton drove in three RBIs on two hits and Sera Vela registered three base hits.