Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern baseball team was back in action at their side of the NCAA Division II Baseball Central Region Tournament Friday evening. After defeating Harding on Thursday, the Lions took on the six-seeded Arkansas-Monticello Boll Weevils who picked up an 11-9 victory over three-seeded Arkansas Tech on Thursday. Playing as the away team due to NCAA rules, the Lions fell late to the Boll Weevils, 7-4. Two records were broken on the day by the Lions;
Henry Kusiak set the MIAA Career Hits record and
Cale McCallister broke the MSSU Career Pitching Appearances record.
Both teams were scoreless through the first two innings, then the Lions got things going in the top of the third. After a
Drew Davis walk to lead off the inning,
Chayton Beck moved him over with a sacrifice bunt and
Drew Townsend drove him in with a ground rule double to center. With two outs in the inning,
Henry Kusiak hit a single up the middle to score Townsend, breaking the MIAA Career Hits record with 313 in his collegiate career.
The Boll Weevils had a runner on in the bottom of the fourth, but the Lions ended the inning with a 4-6-3 double play.
Henry Kusiak led off the sixth inning with a solo shot to left that got out in a hurry. A batter later,
Garrett Rice sent one over the left-center wall to make it 4-0.
Arkansas-Monticello put things together in the seventh inning, scoring 5 runs to take a 5-4 lead. They scored another two runs in the eighth, pushing their lead to 7-4. In the top of the ninth, Missouri Southern got runners to first and second thanks to a
Treghan Parker single and a HBP from
Ryan Cline, but the Boll Weevils escaped with a 7-4 victory.
Henry Kusiak broke the MIAA Career Hits record, going 2-3 with a home run and 2 RBI on the day.
Garrett Rice was 2-4 with a double and a home run, and
Drew Townsend was 1-5 with a double, driving in a run and scoring another.
Cale McCallister made his 77th career pitching appearance, breaking Missouri Southern's record.
The Lions will face the winner of game three played at 1:00pm on Friday, the seven-seeded Harding Bisons. They defeated the three seed in Arkansas Tech by a score of 3-2. Game time for the MSSU and HU contest is scheduled for 1:00pm on Saturday. The winner of that game will go on to play Arkansas-Monticello in the championship at 5:00pm.
