Joplin, Mo. - The 10th ranked Missouri Southern baseball program began the central region tournament with a 4-3 win over Arkansas Tech on Thursday, May 18th at Warren Turner Field following a timely
Chayton Beck home run in the eighth inning.
Southern (43-15) was led by Beck going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a home run,
Garrett Rice drew three walks and scored twice to lead the team in both categories.
Cole Woods finished with a no decision after striking out eight in 6.2 innings of work as
Laif Hultine won his fourth game of the season after striking out two in 2.1 innings of relief.
The Lions got the scoring started with a bases loaded hit-by-pitch suffered by
Treghan Parker in the second inning and in the third a
Will Doherty sacrifice fly scored
Henry Kusiak to push the early lead up to 2-0. Arkansas Tech (32-21) got on the board in the fifth inning with a two-run home run and added another run in the seventh with a fielders choice bunt to give the Wonder Boys a 3-2 lead.
In the eighth inning Rice worked a nine pitch walk to get on base before Beck hit his 11th home run of the season with a no doubter over the left field fencing to give the Lions a 4-3 lead late in the game. Hultine in the ninth issued back-to-back ground outs and following a walk induced a fly out to
Tyler Ferguson the defensive substitution in right field to end the game. This was the Lions first regional win since the 1992 which was also the last time the program hosted an NCAA regional tournament.
Up next for the Lions will be Minnesota State - Mankato at 6:00 p.m. from Warren Turner Field on Friday, May 19th.
Single-Season Update
Cole Woods - Moved past Will Bausinger, 2019 for fifth in single-season strikeouts with 109. Woods is also fifth now in innings pitched passing Doug Stockam, 1986 with 98.1 innings following his performance tonight.
Chayton Beck - Moved past Danny Rogers, 1989 and
Tommy Stevenson, 2021 for fourth in single-season putouts with 430.
Career Update
Chayton Beck - Moved past Jesse Kinzey (2011-12) for ninth in putouts with 666.
Cole Woods - Moved past Zach Parish (2019-21) and Mike Stebbins (1987-90) for sixth in innings pitched with 229.2 innings.
