Morningside’s baseball season ended with a 3-1 loss against Tabor in the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round.

Tabor College pitchers Cedric Rodriguez and Gregory Turner combined to shut down a potent Morningside offense and end the Mustangs’ baseball season when the Bluejays defeated Morningside 3-1 in Wednesday evening’s elimination game in the Hutchison Bracket of the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round in Hutchison, Kan.

Rodriguez allowed one run on five hits over the first 6.1 innings and Turner blanked the Mustangs on no hits over the final 2.2 innings. The two hurlers combined for 10 strikeouts and walked only one batter.

Morningside finished the season with a record of 44-15 for its most victories in school history.

Rodriguez held the Mustangs scoreless through the first six innings before he lost his shutout bid in the seventh when Cole Halgerson was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on a RBI single by Joe Tourville.

Mustang starter Richard Mitchell held the Bluejays scoreless for the first two innings before A.J. Shaw delivered a RBI single with two outs in the third inning to drive in the game’s first run.

The Bluejays added another run in the fourth inning on a RBI single by Dalton Iveans to go up 2-0.

The Mustangs’ closed within 2-1 on Tourville’s seventh inning RBI single, but Tabor got the run back in the top of the eighth on a two-out RBI single by Alex Couch.

Mitchell allowed two runs, only one of them earned, on five hits over the first five innings to take the loss. Mitchell walked one and struck out one. Lance Spongberg allowed one run on four hits over the last four innings. Spongberg walked one and fanned four.

Halgerson had the only extra base hit in the game with a double. The Mustangs’ other hits were singles by Tourville, Joe Genoways, Blake Rogers, and Jacob Lamoreux. Lamoreux finished the season with an 11-game hitting streak.

Couch, Raulier Martinez, and Ryan Neufeld all had two hits for Tabor.

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