Hot Springs, Ark. - The Missouri Southern baseball team kicked off their 2024 season Thursday evening at the Dugan Invitational located in Hot Springs, Arkansas. In their season opener, the Lions picked up a strong 7-2 victory over the #17 Southern Arkansas Muleriders.
Southern Arkansas played as the visitors in this contest, leading off the game with a single. That would be the only hit given up by starting pitcher
Cole Gayman in his 6.0 innings pitched. The defense had his back in the first, ending the inning with a double play.
Things were pretty quiet until the fourth inning when the Lions began a two-out rally.
Ethan Clark hit a single to advance
Drew Townsend to third, then
Treghan Parker tripled to right to score both runners and give MSSU a 2-0 lead.
A couple innings later, the Lions got it going again.
Drew Townsend got on base with a walk and advanced to third with a
Henry Kusiak single. The first run of the inning was scored thanks to an
Ethan Clark single, driving home Townsend and advancing Kusiak.
Treghan Parker then picked up another pair of RBIs with a double to left, and
Garrett Rice drove in the fourth run of the inning as MSSU went ahead 6-0.
Kyle Moore entered the game in the seventh, retiring the Muleriders in order in both the seventh and eighth innings. In the bottom of the eighth,
Treghan Parker recorded his third extra base hit of the game on a home run to right. Southern Arkansas plated two in the ninth for a final score of 7-2 in favor of Missouri Southern.
Treghan Parker went 3-4 at the plate, driving in 5 runs and scoring 2 himself.
Ethan Clark was 2-4 with 2 runs scored and an RBI.
Nate Mieszkowski,
Henry Kusiak,
Will Doherty, and
Garrett Rice each recorded a hit as well.
Cole Gayman was dominant on the mound, giving up just one hit over 6.0 scoreless innings. He was credited with the win, recording 7 strikeouts over 23 batters faced.
The team will face Henderson State on day two of the Dugan Invitational. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00pm on Friday, February 2.
