Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern baseball team wrapped up their home-opening series Saturday afternoon, squeezing in a doubleheader against Ouachita Baptist to avoid potential weather on Sunday. After a dominating 15-1 win on Friday, the Lions took game two 6-0 and game three 5-1 to complete the series sweep. With the wins, Missouri Southern improves to 6-2 on the young season.
Game One on Saturday (second of the series)
The first couple of innings went by without much action, but the Lions got things going in the third.
Garrett Rice and
Chayton Beck started the inning with back-to-back singles. An error by the Tigers loaded the bases for
Henry Kusiak who drove in the first run of the game on a single.
Wyatt Morgan drove in another on a ground out, then
Ethan Clark came up big with a one out, two RBI single to double Southern's score.
Nate Mieszkowski later followed with an RBI single of his own, making it 5-0 after three.
Ouachita Baptist led off the top of the fourth with a triple, but catcher
Chayton Beck caught the runner off guard, picking him off at third. A pair of strikeouts by starting pitcher
Trent Harris ended the inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Beck drove in the sixth run for Missouri Southern, scoring
Will Doherty. The Tigers loaded the bases in the eighth, but the Lions got out of the jam on a fly out to center. Again in the ninth the visitors were threatening, but a 4-6-3 double play got a pair of outs, and a strikeout ended it.
Trent Harris and
Laif Hultine combined for the shutout, as Harris pitched 8.0 innings with 6 strikeouts, giving up just 4 hits and 2 walks. Every hitter in the Lions lineup collected a hit in the game, but it was
Chayton Beck who went 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Game Two on Saturday (third of the series)
With two outs in the first the Tigers moved a runner into scoring position, but the Lions were able to avoid any damage with a ground out to end the inning. Things were pretty quiet until the bottom of the fourth when
Ethan Clark singled and later advanced to third on a single by
Nate Mieszkowski. Despite the push, the score would remain 0-0 until the fifth.
Drew Davis led of the fifth with a double, moving up to third on a
Drew Townsend single. In similar fashion to the first game of the day,
Henry Kusiak broke the scoreless tie. He smacked a double to drive in Davis and advance Townsend to third. With two outs in the inning,
Ethan Clark singled home both runners, and
Will Doherty drove him home with a triple to make it 4-0 Lions.
Ouachita Baptist scored a run in the top of the eighth, just their second of the series, and Missouri Southern wasted no time getting it back. In the bottom of the inning,
Nate Mieszkowski led off with a single, eventually making his way home with smart base running. Defense held strong in the ninth, ending it 5-1.
Cale McCallister went 7.0 innings in the game, retiring 8 via the strikeout, allowing just 4 hits and 0 walks.
Kyle Stoddard and
Kyle Moore closed things out, each pitching an inning and recording 2 strikeouts.
Ethan Clark went 2-3 with 2 RBI, a run scored, and a walk.
Drew Townsend and
Nate Mieszkowski both went 2-4 in the game as well.
For their next competition, the Lions will remain at home against the Oklahoma Baptist Bison. Originally, the Lions were supposed to travel Shawnee, OK on Tuesday, but the series flipped locations as MSSU will host on Tuesday, February 13 but travel to OBU on Tuesday, February 27. Game time for this Tuesday is scheduled for 3:00pm at Warren Turner Field.
