Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Joplin, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern baseball team split a double-header today at home with No. 21 Arkansas-Fort Smith, winning 8-1 in the opener, but falling 8-4 in the nightcap.
Southern (11-1) got a big start in game one when Matt Harvey went the distance, scattering three hits, and allowing one earned run, while striking out nine and walking just three.
MSSU scored two runs in each of the first and second innings. Tee Helsel and Richie Gorski had RBIs in the first, while Chad Shannon had an RBI triple in the second and scored on a wild pitch.
The Lions added two more in the third with RBIs from Gorski and Robbe Ewing. UAFS (10-1) added a run in the fifth, but Southern answered back with two more runs in the sixth on RBIs from Shannon and Chris Hoffman.
Shannon went 3-4 in the game with two RBIS and three runs scored. Jesse Rall went 2-4 with a run, while Evin Natick, Hoffman, Helsel, Gorski and Matt Smith had a hit each. Smith scored twice and Gorski drove in a pair.
Southern fell behind early in game two as Fort Smith scored four un-earned runs over the first two innings.
The Lions added two runs in the second on RBIs from Ewing and Mitchell Osburn, but UAFS added another run in the third to go up 5-2.
Axel Johnson hit a no-doubter to right field for his second homer of the year and cut the lead to 5-3 in the fourth, but UAFS scored another in the fifth to go up 6-3. Ewing drove in Jon Davis in the bottom half of the fifth to make the score 6-4, but UAFS scored two more in the top fo the sixth for the final tallies.
Jesse Rall went 3-3 in game two with a run scored. Johnson went 2-2 with a run and an RBI, while Jon Davis scored twice. Shannon and Ewing had a hit each for Southern.
Nick Pettus started and went five innings, allowing just five hits and one earned run. He struck out seven and walked three. Sean Goostree and Chad Worman threw in relief.
The Lions will be back in action this weekend when Southern travels to Hays, Kan. to take on Fort Hays State University. Friday's game one of the series has been pushed up to 3 pm, while the Lions will play two games on Saturday at 1 pm and a final game on Saturday at noon.
