By Don Wallace

sports@jacksonvilleprogress.com

The Bearcats have seen how they match up against the best.

Lon Morris College was swept 10-0 and 6-1 Wednesday afternoon by the Region XIV preseason favorite Navarro College Bulldogs.

The sun-splashed day at the LMC park during spring break drew several dozen fans, parents and big league baseball scouts.

Navarro was the better team, but Lon Morris stayed close, especially in the second game on the conference-opening twinbill.

“We’re not in their league. We didn’t play well. The reason we stayed close in the second game was the solid pitching of Michael Russo. We can do a few things and win some games; we’re excited about starting conference play. But Navarro is just a great team, they’re head and shoulders better than anyone else in the conference,” LMC head baseball coach Josh Stewart said.

Navarro is 18-3 overall, 2-0 in conference.

LMC falls to 12-14, 0-2.

Navarro 10, Lon Morris 0 Game 1

Navarro started early with their dominance of the first game with four runs in the first inning off starting pitcher Hector Plaza of LMC.

By the time Plaza was removed from the game in the fourth, he had surrendered half a dozen runs. Lon Morris was behind 8-0 as action shifted to the bottom of the fourth.

Navarro starting pitcher Bryan Bingham was sharp as a tack, showing the mixture of pitches which has given him a conference leading 1.30 earned run average.

Brock Holt ripped a single for Navarro and was tripled home by Kyle Livingston in the fourth The Bulldogs were up 10-0 and in command.

The Bearcats had a threat in the seventh as Arthur Mazierski and Angel Osorio slapped singles to right field. Navarro worked out of the jam and preserved the shutout.

Plaza allowed six runs off seven hits, five walks and two strikeouts in less than three innings. Ryan Mashinter gave up two runs off four hits, allowing one walk, striking out two in three innings. Drew Cavender pitched one inning, allowing no runs, one walk and one strikeout.

Lon Morris managed just four hits against Navarro pitching. Nick Harrison, Osorio, Mazierski and Oboussier each had singles.

Navarro 6, Lon Morris 1, Game 2

It was a classic pitcher’s duel for more than seven innings between Russo of Lon Morris and Brian Shore of Navarro.

Justin Howard singled to centerfield to plate Holt in the first inning for 1-0 lead in the first inning for Navarro.

Then came the goose eggs. As in scoreless innings.

The teams threatened, but neither could score until the sixth inning.

The homestanding Bearcats began their rally with a single to right field by Jose Trinidad and he took second on an error. Nick Harrison singled to plate the run and deadlock the game at 1. Lon Morris could not manage to take the lead and the game stayed tied.

The Bulldogs finally got through on a tired Russo and struck for the go-ahead runs in the top of the eighth.

Jason Shepherd was the last batter the battling Russo would face as he stroked a double to left field. Nick Keenom was called on to pitch relief.

Navarro greeted the new hurler with thundering bats, pounding three doubles in a row. When the smoke had cleared, the Bulldogs had taken a 6-1 lead as action moved to the bottom of the eighth.

The Bulldogs held LMC scoreless for the remainder of the game.

Russo (5-1) was the hard-luck losing pitcher for Lon Morris as he took his first defeat of the season. The Lewisville sophomore hurled 7 1/3 innings, giving up two runs off six hits, striking out six and walking two. Keenon allowed three runs in 2/3 inning, giving up three hits, walking one and striking out one; Alex Ocasio pitched one inning, allowing one hit and no runs.

Lon Morris had four hits in the game with Canadian import Josh Brenn contributing two singles.

“We came into these games 12-12, about where we thought we’d be. We had a streak where we won five or six in a row. But our last 10 games, we have gone 3-7,” said Stewart. “We know we still have work to do. But we have more than 20 conference games to play. We can do a few things and get some wins. We have Paris Junior College next, here Saturday at noon. They probably are the second best team in the league, behind Navarro.”