Pittsburg, Kan. - Following a victory over Pittsburg State Thursday evening, the Missouri Southern baseball team played in the first game of the day on Friday. They took on Washburn who defeated Central Missouri in their contest on Thursday. Southern's bats were rolling again, taking down the Ichabods 8-4 to advance to the MIAA Championship.
The Lions made some noise in their first opportunity, getting a couple of runners on.
Ethan Clark drew a one out walk, then
Henry Kusiak was hit by a pitch, the team's program record 98th hit-by-pitch this season. Washburn worked around the threat and kept things 0-0.
After a quiet top half of the second, the Ichabods broke the scoreless tie with a two-out run. Wasting no time,
Drew Townsend hit a solo shot in the next half inning to tie things at 1-1. Washburn responded with a solo home run in the bottom of the third, regaining the lead.
Nearly identical to the second inning,
Drew Townsend hit another solo shot in the fifth inning to tie things up. After a single from
Ethan Clark and a
Henry Kusiak double,
Will Doherty drove in Clark with a single through the left side to give the Lions the lead.
Treghan Parker led off the sixth with a single and
Drew Davis then walked, both moving up a base on a sacrifice bunt. After another walk,
Ethan Clark put one through the right side to score Parker and Davis to extend the Lion lead to 5-2.
Will Doherty later followed with an RBI single, adding another to the Southern score.
Washburn scored two in the bottom of the seventh, but the Lions got one back in the eighth on an
Ethan Clark RBI single. The Ichabods had two runners on in the bottom of the inning, but
Laif Hultine recorded a big strikeout to end the inning. With a runner on second,
Drew Davis hit a double down the right field line to make it 8-4 MSSU. Washburn was unable to score in the bottom of the ninth to end it 8-4.
Drew Townsend was 2-3 on the day, both hits being home runs. He also reached twice on walks, scoring 4 runs on the day.
Ethan Clark was 3-5, recording 3 RBI and a run scored.
Will Doherty was also 3-5, driving in a pair of runs.
Keaton Anderson was credited with the win, tossing 5.0 innings. He gave up 2 runs on 6 hits, striking out 4 in the process.
With the win, the Lions advance to the MIAA Championship that will take place on Saturday at 12:00pm. Their opponent will be decided at the end of the day, as Pittsburg State and Central Missouri play Friday, then the winner of that game will play Washburn in the evening.
