A pair of Friday setbacks eliminated the Mustangs from the GPAC Baseball Tournament.

Nathan DeChaine

Blake Meacham

Morningside was eliminated from the GPAC Baseball Tournament after a 3-0 loss against Hastings in Friday’s loser’s bracket final in Crete, Neb.

The Mustangs finished the season with a record of 35-18.

Morningside dropped into the loser’s bracket after an 8-3 loss against Dakota Wesleyan in Friday morning’s winner’s bracket final in Crete, Neb.

The Mustangs took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning against Dakota Wesleyan before the Tigers reeled off seven unanswered runs with three in the third and four in the fifth to take control of the game with a 7-1 advantage.

Morningside scored its third inning run when Jacob Lamoreux reached base with a one-out single, advanced to second on a groundout by Nolan Hoff, and came home on a double by Blake Meacham.

The Tigers had their first four hits of the game during their three-run third inning and then broke the game open with four more runs in the fifth.

Morningside finished the contest with nine hits, including two-hit performances from Meacham with a double and single and Nathan DeChaine with a pair of singles.

Dakota Wesleyan starting pitcher Patrick Whetham gave up all nine of the Mustangs’ hits while going the first seven innings to get the win. Whetham (5-4) struck out three and didn’t walk a batter.

Mustang starter Lance Spongberg allowed nine hits over the first five innings to take the loss. Spongberg (7-6) walked two and struck out four.

Hastings took a 3-0 lead after two innings on a first inning RBI single by Jake Steese and second inning RBI singles by Ryan Schrad and Drew Magee.

Jonathan Van Beek

Bronco pitcher Andrew Kuta yielded hits to two of the first four batters he faced to start the game when Cole Chapin and Nate Clark solved him for singles. Kuta then settled in and didn’t allow another hit until an eighth inning single by Mike Thompson, at one time retiring 10 straight batters.

Kuta finished with a three-hitter with two walks and two strikeouts to improve his record to 8-5.

Jonathan Van Beek provided an outstanding five-inning relief performance to keep the Mustangs in the game. Van Beek, who took over to start the third inning, blanked the Broncos on four hits with one walk and three strikeouts before Doug Vanecek took over and pitched a scoreless eighth.

Dakota Wesleyan Box

Hastings Box