Park University's baseball program was back at Comfort Field on Sunday and Monday with a four-game series with Mount Mercy University. This is a rematch from the 2024 Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament Championship, and in 2025, the Pirates bust out a 3-1 series win over the Mustangs, 20-13, 7-10, 12-6, 6-4.
Of course, both these teams were 2024 NAIA Opening Round Qualifiers for reaching the conference tournament championship, where Park had to defeat Mount Mercy twice after coming up from the loser's bracket. The Pirates were able to get the first win, but ran out of pitching in the second game last year.
Flash forward to this season and the Pirates and Mustangs put on a great show with a heavily offensive series with some crucial errors factored in there that made the difference for the Pirates to edge Mount Mercy.
Park moves to 9-6 on the year with a 5-3 Heart record. This was the first conference action for the Mustangs and are now 1-3 with a 6-10 regular season record.
For his massive production this series,
Ricardo Hernandez was named the Heart Player of the Week, the NAIA National Player of the Week, and NAIABall's National Player of the Week. On the week, he had five home runs, 15 RBI's and was eight-of-11 at the plate in games three and four against Graceland and games one and two against Mount Mercy. He began with a three-for-three game one with six RBI's, two-run home runs, and a two-RBI double. He then continued to be a thorn in the Mustangs side with seven hits, three home runs, 10 RBI's, and four walks for the series; three of his walks were intentional walks.
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W, 20-13 | Box Score
Park would have their second 20 run game in back-to-back conference series at Comfort Field.
Jake Lufft started things with an RBI single in the first inning and then a two-run shot by Hernandez to dead center put Park up 3-0.
A throwing error on a double-play attempt in the second inning brought
Evan Johnson around for Park's 4
th run.
Raul Garcia would get the win in this game and pitched his first two innings scoreless. Mount Mercy would tie the game 4-4 in the top of the third, scoring all runs with two outs on four hits in the inning.
Hernandez got it immediately back for Park with a two-run home run the next half inning, and with two outs, another two runs came in by the second throwing error on the Mustang shortstop.
The Mustangs would benefit from a Park error that allowed two unearned runs to score in the top of the fourth, but Garcia minimized the damage and his day was done with six hits, three walks, and two strikeouts through four innings. His record on the year is now 2-0.
Park got another four runs to extend the lead to six runs by the end of the bottom of the fourth, 12-6. Luft singled to bring in
Billy Rivera,
Zayne Morrow then roped a two-RBI single, and a sacrifice fly by Johnson brought in
Blake Antle in for a courtesy running opportunity.
The last big swing of four runs by the Mustangs cut the deficit to only two runs, 12-10, but the Pirates had an emphatic response with a eight-run sixth on six hits and an error for a 20-13 win.
L, 7-10 | Box Score
The offense for Park continued to roll in game two, scoring in the first five innings of play. Jake Beckman on the mound for Park, pitched a scoreless first inning and then limited the Mustangs to a two run inning.
Park's Hernandez got the Pirates on the board with an RBI single to score
Gilberto Torres. Park then tied it in the bottom of the second inning at 2 with an RBI single from
Alex Rodriguez.
Another two-run home run to right center field, Hernandez' third home run of the day, put Park in the lead 4-2. Still in the third,
Houston Penrod singled through the left side to put Park up three, 5-2.
With two outs in the top of the fourth, the Mustangs put on four runs, including a two-run error on a popup in the grass beyond second base. A triple the next batter would be the turning point for Mount Mercy, as they took the 6-5 lead.
Park tied the game in the fourth on a groundout by Torres, but four runs between the fifth and sixth innings put Mount Mercy up 10-7, where this one ended.
W, 12-6 | Box Score
Mount Mercy made a strong case for themselves early in the third game, scoring a four-spot against
Bryan Aguirre in the second inning. Some situational batting by Mount Mercy, an error by Park, a two-RBI double, and a home run in the third inning made it 5-0.
Park was hitless until
Houston Penrod in the third inning, but then in the fourth inning Park tied it up with a five-run scoring swing. Three hits, two walks, and a hit batter put Park in great position for a big inning, including a two-RBI single with two away to tie it.
Meanwhile. Aguirre was pitching a gem through adversity with three straight scoreless innings to salvage his day with 6.2 innings pitched, three earned runs, and six strike outs.
Park got the rest of their runs in a devastating seven-run inning in the sixth, putting the game out of reach. Santana added his third RBI of the game with a single up the middle, followed by an RBI single by Torres to make it 7-5. A dropped flyball to center cleared the bases to make it 10-5 and then Johnson came through with a two-RBI single for good measure, 12-5.
There was some drama as a hit batter with the bases loaded by Aguirre ended his day, but then Sebasitan Del Olmo came in for the last out, inducing a grounder to second. Park went up 2-1 in the series with a 12-6 win.
W, 6-4 | Box Score
It was another stellar pitching performance in game four by Park's
Jake Lufft in six innings pitched.
 Park methodically scored four runs through the first three innings, as a double by Rodriguez and a single by Rivera quickly made it 1-0 within the first two Park batters. A ground out by Torres scored the second run to make it 2-0.
Park then tacked on a run in the second and third innings with an RBI single by Rodriguez and a solo home run by Torres the next inning.
One of the few mistakes of the afternoon came in the fourth inning, as the Mustangs got on the board with a two-run home run.
Still Lufft would stay tough with only three hits allowed, two walks, and four strikeouts.
The Pirates got those two runs back in the bottom of the fifth, as
Zayne Morrow roped in a two-RBI single to centerfield, putting Park up 6-2.
A hit batter and a walk by Lufft ended his day, and again, Del Olmo was called upon to finish the game. This time, he entered in a save situation with the tying run on deck. The first batter doubled and then a groundout scored the second run to make it 6-4, but Del Olmo retired the last three batters he faced to earn the save.
Park will be on the road in Oskaloosa, Iowa on Saturday and Sunday, March 15-16 in their next Heart series with William Penn University.
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