Joplin, Mo. - On Saturday, Missouri Southern and Central Oklahoma were back at Warren Turner field for game two of their series. Following the loss Friday evening, Missouri Southern bounced back with a statement, taking game two 11-1 in seven innings. They improve to 29-9 (16-6 MIAA) with the win.
Trent Harris struck out two in the first inning, helping MSSU to a strong start. The offense also showed up early, as
Drew Townsend scored on an error, then
Garrett Rice drove in
Will Doherty for the second run of the inning.
Central Oklahoma cut their deficit in half with a run in the second, but Southern pushed their lead to 4-1 in the third. It was
Garrett Rice again, singling to right which scored
Henry Kusiak and
Wyatt Morgan. That score remained until the sixth, then
Nate Mieszkowski drove in
Drew Davis with a single through the left side.
Avoiding a threat by the Bronchos in the top half, the Lions really broke things open in the bottom half of the seventh.
Drew Townsend led off with a double to right, later advancing to third on a wild pitch.
Will Doherty then walked and
Wyatt Morgan was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Garrett Rice picked up another two RBI, recording a double that was lined right back up the middle and took a wild bounce off the pitcher. Two more runs were scored on a wild pitch and a bad throw to second from the catcher, making it 9-1 Southern. With
Treghan Parker on base,
Drew Davis sent a line drive over the left field wall for a two-run home run to end the game via the run rule, 11-1.
Trent Harris went 6.0 innings for the win, giving up just 1 run on 4 hits, striking out 8 in the process.
Garrett Rice went 3-4 with a double, driving in 5 runs and scoring another himself.
Drew Davis was 2-4 with a home run and a double, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored.
Game three of the series will be played on Sunday at 1:00pm, the winner of that contest taking the series as well.
