A bump in the mound for MCC against Thompson River
Stephen Wright
Mesa Legend
The Thunderbird’s baseball team had a well-fought game Feb. 23. Unfortunately for MCC, the result was not a notch in the win column. The team is currently 13-4 with the loss to Thompson River. The game was a make-up against Thompson River due to a rain out. The “Wolfpack”, according to their jerseys, scored in the first inning. Since the game was non-conference game, the Thunderbirds worked on their pitching staff. According to Locke Bernhardt, most of the pitching staff is in their first season.
The rest are sophomores, so they are a young pitching squad altogether. The pivotal point which cost the Thunderbirds the game was a throwing error. The catcher saw the runner at third away from the bag and overthrew the third baseman. It all started in the top of the eighth inning. There was one out when a walk was issued by No. 16, Kody Funderburk. Funderburk played first-base, until he was moved to the mound.
A single was then hit to right field, leaving runners at the corners. The next batter for the “Wolfpack” had a 0-1 count. This is when the error occurred allowing Thompson River to score the winning run of the game. Thompson River also committed errors on their turn in the field. The Thunderbirds attempted to rally in the bottom of the ninth defending home field, but were unsuccessful.
The season is still young for the Thunderbirds as they work towards becoming a cohesive unit on the field. The pitching needs more experience and time on the mound. This is not to say they will have issues winning by this game alone. The Thunderbirds are 13-4 at the beginning of the season because they play as a team. Bernhardt said Coach Cirelli wants them to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations, so when they appear that it’s not an issue.
