Claremore, Okla. - The Missouri Southern baseball team played on the road for the first time since February 27, taking on the Rogers State Hillcats on their home field. In the midweek contest, the Lions picked up a 5-1 victory, giving head coach
Bryce Darnell his 500th win at Missouri Southern. That win also puts the Lions at 21-4 (9-1 MIAA) on the year.
Coach
Bryce Darnell took over the program in May of 2007, becoming the third head baseball coach in Southern history. Over his 16 complete seasons at MSSU, Darnell has led the Lions to the MIAA Tournament 12 times. He has coached 115 All-MIAA performances, 27 All-Region honorees, 12 All-America selections and one National Pitcher of the Year.
With two outs in the first inning,
Will Doherty kept things alive after being hit by a pitch.
Wyatt Morgan followed with a single to right, then
Ethan Clark gave the Lions a 1-0 lead with a double to left-center.
Treghan Parker added to that, scoring both Morgan and Clark on a single to right.
After a quiet second inning, Missouri Southern added a run in the third as
Nate Mieszkowski hit a single to right field to drive in
Ethan Clark. The fourth and fifth innings went by without any runs scored, but
Chayton Beck opened the sixth with a home run to left. Rogers State responded with their first run of the game in the bottom half of the inning and had the bases loaded with one out, but a 5-4-3 double play got the Lions out of the jam without much damage done.
After 6.0 innings from
Alex Baker,
Brandon Overman,
Keaton Anderson, and
Kyle Kaempf each threw a hitless inning to end the game 5-1. Baker was credited with the win, giving up just 1 run on 6 hits and striking out 5 Hillcat batters.
Treghan Parker was 2-4 at the plate with 2 RBI.
Chayton Beck went 1-2 with a home run and a walk.
Ethan Clark finished 1-4 with an RBI double, scoring twice on the day.
The Lions will continue to play on the road, traveling to Pittsburg State for their next series. Game one is scheduled for a 3:00pm start on Friday, March 15.
