Southern baseball splits twinbill at Washburn
Mar. 7—TOPEKA, Kan. — The fifth-ranked Missouri Southern baseball team split a twinbill on Saturday at Washburn, suffering a 5-3 setback in the first game for its first loss of the season before bouncing back with a 4-3 extra-inning win in the series finale.
The Lions finished 2-1 in the weekend series and moved to 11-1 on the season and 5-1 in MIAA play.
WU 5, MSSU 3
The first game saw Southern surrender two go-ahead runs to Washburn in the bottom of the sixth inning that proved to be the difference. The Lions totaled 10 hits but were held scoreless in the final three frames.
MSSU scored a run in the fourth when Tommy Stevenson singled home Troy Gagan to cut the Washburn lead to 2-1.
The Ichabods scored a run in the fifth to go up 3-1 before the Lions tied the game in the sixth with home runs from Joe Kinder and Gagan.
Gagan went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Jordan Fitzpatrick finished 3-for-4 as well, while Stevenson had a pair of hits and an RBI.
Zac Shoemaker (2-1) started and suffered the loss, going 5 1/3 innings and striking out five. Scott Duensing and Cale McCallister threw in relief.
Washburn starting pitcher Brock Gilliam (2-1) tossed a complete game, striking out 13 and limiting the Lions to three earned runs. Offensively, the Ichabods seven players log at least one hit, with four recording at least two.
MSSU 4, WU 3
The second game saw the Lions rally to tie Washburn in the ninth frame before scoring a go-ahead run in the 11th to claim the win and the series.
The Lions got on the board first after a sacrifice fly from Kinder scored Dexter Swims in the third. Washburn scored two runs in the third and one in the seventh to take a 3-1 lead.
Southern responded with a run in the eighth on Gagan's second home run of the day. The Lions knotted the score in the next inning when Brad Willis doubled to plate Clay Milas.
A bases-loaded walk in the top of the 11th frame gave the Lions the go-ahead run. Relief pitcher Chase Beiter and the Southern defense took over from there, holding the Ichabods to one hit and no runs in the bottom of the inning to put the game on ice.
Gagan, Milas and Swims each had two hits to pace the Southern offense.
Will Bausinger started and went seven innings, striking out five. Beiter (1-0) threw the final four innings and struck out six to pick up the win. He also got the save in Friday's series opener.
The Lions will be back in action next weekend when they travel to St. Joseph to take on Missouri Western in a three-game series. The first game will be played at 3 p.m. Friday before the teams play a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Saturday.
