Joplin, Mo. - The 21st ranked Missouri Southern baseball program came away with a 13-5 victory over Drury on Tuesday from Warren Turner Field as
Matt Miller tied the career home run record.
The Lions (9-4) got three home runs, a triple and seven doubles from the offense today and struck out 14 as a pitching staff. Leading the way individually was
Garrett Rice with four RBIs with his hits accounting for a double and home run,
Treghan Parker picked up three RBIs off three hits and fell a home run short of hitting for the cycle.
Ryan Doran and
Matt Miller hit home runs with Miller's being his 41st of his career to tie Jim Baranoski (86-89) for the program record. On the mound
Cole Gayman struck out five with 3.1 innings of work,
Kyle Moore picked up the win with 3.0 innings of action and five strikeouts while
Jacob Davis,
Cale McCallister,
Alex Baker and
Jeremiah Kennedy all recording one strikeout each today.
Drury (5-2) would get on the board first in the game with a run scored in the first two innings before a three run bottom of the second by Southern swung the game in favor of the hosts. Scoring plays in the second for the Lions were a Rice double to center field allowing
Henry Kusiak to score, a Parker triple to right center scored Rice and
Garrett Latoz picked up an RBI with Parker scoring off a ground out.
In the third inning, Rice hit a sacrifice fly to allow
Will Doherty to score and a
Nate Mieszkowski single to right center would score Doran in the fourth inning for a 5-2 lead. Doran would hit a two run opposite field home run to left center in the sixth and following a Panthers walk-in run in the seventh a Parker double to center field scored Kusiak and Doherty that increased the lead to 9-3.Â
The eighth inning was where Miller hit his home run to center field that allowed Mieszkowski to score and Rice would homer later on in the inning to score Kusiak for the 13-3 lead. Drury would get two runs back in the top of the ninth but it was a Lions 13-5 victory to mark the ninth win of the season.
Up next for the Lions is the MIAA opening weekend matchup with rivals Pittsburg State beginning on Friday, Feb. 24th with first pitch from Al Ortolani Field in Pittsburg, Kan. set for 6:00pm.
