Kansas City, Kan. -- Kevin Humphrey
pitched a complete game with only two runs allowed to lead the
Missouri Southern Lions to a 6-2 win over the Fort Hays State
Tigers in MIAA Tournament action Saturday afternoon (May 8) at
CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan. With the
victory, the Lions stay alive in the tournament and will play No.
3-ranked Central Missouri in an elimination game later
this evening at 7 p.m.
After allowing the Tigers (31-22) two runs on two hits in
the first inning, Humphrey blanked the Tigers over the final eight
frames on only three hits.
A sacrifice fly by Sloan Soulia and an RBI single from Kyle
Stacken accounted for the Tigers' only runs of the game.
Skyler
Rawlins homered in the bottom of the first that cut the Tigers'
lead in half and made it 2-1.
Rawlins then scored the tying run on an RBI double by Joe Lincoln in the
bottom of the third.
It remained 2-2 until the bottom of the sixth when Shayne Hoke led off
with a single, advanced to second on a single by Patrick Deao and
scored the go-ahead run on an error by the rightfielder.
The Lions (28-25) added three valuable insurance runs in
the bottom of the eighth as CJ Matthews led off
the inning with a single and scored the fourth run on a run-scoring
single by Deao. Rawlins and Jacob Taylor also hit
RBI singles in the inning that gave the Lions a four-run
cushion.
Humphrey struck out five and walked only one in his nine innings
of work.
Deao went 3-of-4 with one RBI for the Lions, while Rawlins was
2-of-3 with two RBI.
With a win over UCM later tonight, the Lions would advance to
play No. 9-ranked Emporia State in the MIAA
Championship tomorrow afternoon (May 9) at 1 p.m. The
Lions would need to defeat the Hornets twice to claim the
tournament title and a berth in the South Central Regional
Tournament.