BOLIVAR, Mo. (April 26, 2016) -- Bennett Oliver hit his 18th home run of the season and
Ben Kelsch tossed six shutout innings to help lead the 21st-ranked Mules to a 9-0 win over Southwest Baptist on Tuesday at Dodson Field. With the win, UCM sweeps the season series with SBU and improves to 28-12 overall and 26-7 in MIAA play with six games remaining.
The game was scoreless into the bottom of the second when the game was delayed for over an hour due to lightning and then rain. When the game resumed it remained scoreless until the bottom of the third when the Mules, who were the home team even though the game was played at SBU, struck first with a pair of unearned runs to grab the lead.
The Mules extended the lead to 6-0, scoring four times in the bottom of the fourth. Matt Safranek had an RBI fielder's choice to plate the first run, he also scored the third run on a wild pitch. Blake Wilfong had an RBI single and Matt Elliott added a run-scoring single.
Oliver hit a solo home run leading off the fifth, his 18th of the season, to give UCM a 7-0 lead. His 18 home runs this year are tied for the second most in a single-season in UCM history and are two shy of the all-time record of 20 set by Ben Slemmer in 1998.
The Mules put the icing on the cake with two more runs in the bottom of the eighth for the 9-0 advantage. Wilfong had an RBI groundout and Elliott added his second RBI single of the game.
Kelsch (2-0) went six solid innings for Central Missouri to earn the win. He scattered five hits and struck out five. Luke Mercer pitched a perfect sixth inning and Reece Ponak finished off the game, tossing two innings of one-hit relief while striking out one.
Brandon Chernoff (4-5) took the loss for SBU after allowing six runs, four earned, on seven hits over 3.2 innings of work.
The Mules return home to host Missouri Western in a three-game series beginning on Friday. It is the final home stand of the regular season for the Mules. First pitch on Friday night is scheduled for 6 p.m. The game can be heard live on 1450 KOKO and warrensburgradio.com with Bob Jackson and Ricky Rivera on the call.
