Morningside suffered an 8-1 loss against Hastings in the first round of the GPAC Baseball Postseason Tournament.

Jordan Pierce

Dylan Mersola

Hastings ace pitcher Vinny Schmidt remained undefeated this season when he pitched the Broncos to an 8-1 victory against Morningside in a GPAC Baseball Postseason Tournament Northwestern Bracket first round game on Friday in Orange City, Iowa.

The loss dropped the Mustangs, 20-24-1, into the tournament’s elimination bracket, where they will try to stay alive in the double elimination tournament when they face city rival Briar Cliff in a 3 p.m. Saturday contest.

Schmidt scattered eight hits, struck out eight and did not walk a batter in a complete game outing to run his season’s record to 8-0.

The Mustangs scored their only run in the fourth inning when Jordan Pierce doubled and scored on an error by the second baseman.

Morningside ace Richard Mitchell held the Broncos to three runs on nine hits with no walks and four strikeouts over the first seven innings before Hastings broke the game open against the Mustangs’ bullpen.

Leading 3-1, Hastings staged a five-run eighth inning to put the Mustangs away. The Broncos had three hits in the inning and capitalized on five Morningside errors.

Pierce went two-for-four with a pair of doubles and Dylan Mersola had two singles to account for half of the Mustangs’ eight hits. The Mustangs’ other hits were a double by Levi Davidson and singles by Nathan DeChaine, Joe Genoways and Mitch Kellogg.