Joplin, Mo. - Following their MIAA Tournament run that ended with a championship, the Missouri Southern baseball team kicked off their portion of the NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament Thursday evening. As the two seed, the Lions took on the seven-seeded Harding Bisons in the second game of the day. Despite the late push by the Bisons, the Lions fought back and won it in the bottom of the ninth 7-6.
The first batter of the game reached on a single to right, but
Cole Gayman would retire the next 15 Bisons in a row. Missouri Southern wasted no time getting on the board, as
Garrett Rice came up clutch with a two out single to center with the bases loaded, scoring
Drew Townsend and
Ethan Clark.
Later in the third,
Henry Kusiak hit a double down the right field line to score
Drew Townsend. That hit tied the MIAA Career Hits record, Kusiak now with 312 in his collegiate career. Next up,
Will Doherty put one into left field to bring home two more runs and make it a 5-0 ball game. In the bottom of the fourth, Doherty was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, adding another RBI to his total and extending the Southern lead to 6-0.
Harding had a big fifth inning, cutting their deficit in half with a three run inning. Things moved along pretty quickly until the top of the ninth as the Bisons wouldn't go down without a fight. The inning started with a fly out, but they managed to load the bases and later trade a run for an out to make it 6-4. Another two runs would score before all three outs were made, tying the game at 6-6.
Will Doherty drew a one out walk in the bottom of the ninth, then
Garrett Rice drove a double to left-center to bring Doherty home for the walk-off win at 7-6.
Will Doherty and
Garrett Rice each recorded 2 hits and 3 RBI in the win.
Henry Kusiak tied the MIAA Career Hits record with 2 hits on the day, driving in a run and scoring another as well.
Drew Townsend was 3-4 at the plate with 2 runs scored and a walk.
Cole Gayman tossed 7.1 innings, giving up just 1 earned run on 6 hits, striking out 3.
Laif Hultine tied MSSU's Career Pitching Appearances record at 76 games, and
Kyle Moore was credited with the win.
The Lions will play the six seed in Arkansas-Monticello after they picked up an 11-9 victory over three-seeded Arkansas Tech in game one. That contest is scheduled to start at 5:00pm on Friday, May 17.
