Joplin, Mo. -- With the Missouri Southern Lions
down 4-0 in the second inning, Carter Lance came on
in relief and pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings and got plenty of
help from the offense in a 14-10 win over the Park
(Mo.) Pirates Saturday afternoon (Apr. 10) at Joe Becker
Stadium.
The Pirates, an NAIA school located in Parkville, Mo., jumped on
starter Kevin
Humphrey for four runs in the second inning. The inning
started with consecutive singles and Darian Sandford doubled home
the first two runs.
Cody Spaulding then singled home two more runs that gave the
Pirates a four-run lead.
Lance halted the Pirates' offensive outburst by retiring the
first seven batters he faced.
That gave the bats a chance to heat up, as the Lions scored
three in the third and then erupted for eight runs in the
fourth.
Zac Porath and Zach Caldwell began
the third with singles and both came around to score on a three-run
home run by Joe Lincoln, Lincoln's
fifth homer of the season.
Shayne Hoke
got the Lions going in the fourth with a lead-off double before CJ Matthews drew
a walk and Skyler Rawlins
reached base on a fielder's choice sacrifice that wound up
loading the bases thanks to an error. A walk to Porath tied
the game at 4-4 and Dane Kolkmeyer put
the Lions ahead for good with a two-run single.
Hoke came around to bat again in the inning and singled home Fernando Lugo
and Porath capped the inning by again drawing a bases-loaded walk
that scored Hoke.
The Lions (17-19, 12-14 MIAA) scored three more times in
the seventh on a leadoff homer by Porath and a two-run shot by Jacob Taylor. It
was Porath's third homer of the season and Taylor's eighth
blast.
Porath then came in to pitch the eighth and immediately got
roughed up for six runs, but only three were earned due to an error
in the inning. Ricardo Torres and Erik Goodline each drove in
two runs to key the inning for the Pirates (14-8).
Tyler Jinks
came on in relief of Porath and got the final out of the eighth and
then pitched a perfect ninth to close out the victory.
Lance struck out seven and allowed only three hits in his 5 2/3
innings of work to pick up his fourth victory of the season.
Lincoln and Hoke each went 3-of-5 at the plate, while Porath was
2-of-2. Taylor and Rawlins were each 2-of-4.
The Lions will now host Northeastern State in another
non-conference tilt on Tuesday night (Apr. 13) at 6 p.m. The
Lions defeated NSU 6-3 earlier this season (Feb. 16) in Tahlequah,
Okla.
