Muscatine High School third baseman Henry Witherow fields a ground ball in Thursday night’s game against Bettendorf in the third inning of game two at Tom Bruner Field in Muscatine. Witherow threw on to first base to retire the runner. Muscatine shortstop Brance Rivera is in the background.Brian Halligan/Muscatine Journal

MUSCATINE, Iowa – The Muscatine High School baseball team saw its record slip to a game above .500 after dropping a doubleheader to Bettendorf Thursday night at Tom Bruner Field.

The bedraggled Muskies, who have played eight varsity and two junior varsity games in the past six days, dropped 11-0 and 6-3 decisions to the conference leaders.

“We were averaging eight runs a game, but tonight Bettendorf held us to three runs and six hits,” said MHS coach Matt Rivera. “We need to work on our hitting and getting back to basics, but it’s hard to do when you’re playing every night.

“Next week isn’t much better; we play Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Bettendorf, which has a slight edge over Burlington in the conference race with its 8-2 record (Burlington is 7-1 after sweeping Davenport North Thursday), banged out 20 hits in the twin bill and got solid starting pitching.

The Bulldogs scored in four of the five innings of the opener, collecting 14 hits off MHS starter Dustin Schultz (2-3) and reliever Seth Sander.

“They have two of the top three hitters (Joel Hutter and Nick Whitty) in the conference,” said Rivera.

Muscatine managed only three hits off senior pitcher Sam Hershberger who struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

“We hit the ball hard in the first game, but it was right at someone every time,” Rivera lamented.

Hutter opened the scoring with a two-out home run in the first inning. A double by Ben Chestnut and Whitty’s RBI single made it 2-0.

After a single run in the third, Bettendorf broke the game open with five in the fourth and three more in the fifth inning.

Muscatine’s best scoring chance came in the bottom of the fifth when Ethan Schroeder and Ben Hammann singled to open the inning.

A one-out error filled the bases, but Hershberger completed the shutout with a fly ball to short center and a grounder to third.

Muscatine miscues helped the Bulldogs in the second game and spoiled another good pitching outing by senior Eric Edkin.

A pair of second inning singles and a two-out error by shortstop Brance Rivera delivered the game’s first run.

After Muscatine tied the score in the bottom of the inning on a pair of walks and Brandon Nau’s RBI single, Bettendorf got another unearned run home in the third.

Bettendorf’s first two batters went down easily in the fourth, but a single by David Reckman and Scott’s run-scoring double made it 3-1.

A dropped fly ball in left field opened the door for two more unearned runs to score, putting the Muskies down 5-1.

Nick Sanders got one of the runs back in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single, but the Bulldogs countered with a run without benefit of a hit in the sixth.

Muscatine completed its scoring in the bottom of the sixth when Eddie Failor walked and scored all the way from first on Ben Hammann’s double.

The Muskies, now 3-7 in the MAC and 10-9 overall after losing three straight games, are now off until traveling to Burlington on Monday.

Bettendorf 11, Muscatine 0

Bettendorf                  201 53 – 11 14 1

Muscatine                  000 00 –   0   3 2

Sam Hershberger & Nick Whitty; Dustin Schultz, Seth Sander (5) & Kyle Flickinger. W – Hershberger. L – Schultz (2-3). Hits (two or more) – Bettendorf (Keigan Scott 2, Joel Hutter 2, Ben Chestnut 2, Whitty 2, Mitch Jurevitz 2, Jake Fenton 2). 2B – Bettendorf (Chestnut, Whitty, Jurevitz). 3B – Bettendorf (Scott). HR – Bettendorf (Hutter). RBI – Bettendorf (David Reckman, Scott 2, Hutter 2, Chestnut, Whitty 2, Nathan Schmitt 2).

———

Bettendorf 6, Muscatine 3

Bettendorf                 011 301 0 – 6 6 2

Muscatine                 010 011 0 – 3 4 3

Mitch Overstreet, Eddie Pantzlaff (5) & Nick Whitty; Eric Edkin & Kyle Flickinger. W – Overstreet. L – Edkin (3-3). S – Pantzlaff. Hits (two or more) – Muscatine (Nick Sanders 2). 2B – Bettendorf (Keigan Scott); Muscatine (Ben Hammann). RBI – Bettendorf (Scott, Joel Hutter, Nathan Schmitt); Muscatine (Sanders, Hammann, Brandon Nau).

Record – Bettendorf 8-2 MAC; Muscatine 10-9 overall, 3-7 MAC.

Next game – Muscatine at Burlington,        5 p.m., Monday, June 23.