Pittsburg, Kan. – The Missouri Southern baseball team utilized a brilliant pitching performance from
Logan VanWey, as well as some timely hitting and the Lions went up 1-0 in its MIAA Quarterfinal Series with Pittsburg State, defeating the Gorillas 6-0 tonight at Al Ortolani Field.
The Lions (29-21) got another stellar start from the unanimous first-team All-MIAA selection as VanWey went eight innings, striking out ten and limiting the Gorillas to just four hits. There were only two points in the entire game were more than one runner was on base for PSU against VanWey.
The senior now has 123 strikeouts this season, which trails only
Zach Parish who had 136 twice. His 222 career strikeouts rank fifth all-time, while his 13.49 strikeouts per nine innings career mark is tops, as is his 76 career appearances.
Scott Duensing came in and slammed the door in the ninth and recorded his 29
th appearance this season. One more appearance for Duensing and he'll tie the single-season mark that was set in 2014.
Jordan Fitzpatrick went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored.
Henry Kusiak had a homer, two hits, two RBIs and a run scored, while
Treghan Parker added a double and an RBI.
Chayton Beck had an RBI, while
Ryan Doran, Nate Miszkowski and
Drew Davis had runs scored.
PSU (29-19) had four players with a hit each.
The Lions got on board first with a pair of runs in the second. Fitzpatrick opened up the scoring with a bomb to right field, while Parker doubled home Davis to give the Lions a 2-0 lead after two. Kusiak added an RBI groundout to score Mieszkowski in the third, while Fitzpatrick doubled home Doran in the fourth and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Beck to make it 6-0 after four. Kusiak then added a towering homer to left in the seventh for the final tally.
The two teams will be back at it tomorrow afternoon as the Lions look to secure a berth in the second weekend of the MIAA Tournament. First pitch is set for 3 pm and a win for MSSU will send the Lions to Edmond, Okla. next week.
