WARRENSBURG, Mo. (May 19, 2019) - Central Missouri Mules Baseball (41-14) will play for their 18th NCAA Division II Regional Championship next week. The Mules advanced to the Super Regional following an 8-5 win over Central Oklahoma Sunday afternoon.
Play-by-Play
• The game actually started at 9 a.m. Saturday morning. After a little more than half an inning of play, the game was suspended until Sunday.
• In that short time Saturday though, the Bronchos, who were the home team, put runners on second and third with nobody out before the storm rolled in.
• Picking up there, UCO drove both of those runners in to start Sunday on ground outs to take an early 2-0 lead.
• In the top half of the second, the Mules first turn at bat Sunday, they cut the lead in half thanks to a two-out home run from
Zak Whalin to swing momentum back to the side of UCM.
• An inning later the Mules had their first lead.
Cole Taylor and
Mason Janvrin started the inning with singles. After they each moved up a bag,
Harrison Schnurbusch drove them both in with a two-out double to center for a 3-2 lead.
• Central Missouri piled on after that, scoring four more in the fourth. Janvrin greeted the new Bronchos pitcher, Landon Bond, with an RBI single on the first pitch he threw to drive in Whalin.
• Two batters later,
Erik Webb put the game out of reach, giving UCM a five-run lead, 7-2, with a deep three-run home run to left.
• Central Oklahoma tried to come back, chipping away with runs in the fourth and fifth, getting a solo home run and two-out RBI hit, cutting the lead to 7-4.
• Again with two outs, Janvrin drew a walk and
Alex Madera hit one into the corner in left as Janvrin flew around the bases to score and make it an 8-4 game.
•
Collin Jones threw two scoreless innings out of the bullpen but ran into some trouble in the eighth. A walk, wild pitch and single made it an 8-5 game and Jones gave way to
Luke Mercer.
• Mercer got the final three outs in the eighth, including a ground ball double play. He pitched a 1-2-3 ninth as well to lock down the win for the Mules.
Mules Stat Leaders
•
Mason Green started and pitched the first five innings, allowing four runs on three hits with three strikeouts.
•
Collin Jones allowed a run on one hit in two innings of work.
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Luke Mercer picked up the save with two scoreless innings and two strikeouts.
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Mason Janvrin collected three more hits with a stolen base and scored three times.
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Zak Whalin reached twice with a home run and a walk and scored twice.
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Erik Webb had two hits including a home run and drove in four runs.
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Cole Taylor knocked a pair of hits and scored twice.
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Alex Madera and
Harrison Schnurbusch each had RBI doubles.
For the Bronchos
• Spencer Van Scoyoc pitched the first 3.1 innings giving up five runs on six hits with three strikeouts.
• Landon Bond and Junior Obeso each pitched 2.1 innings. Bond struck out three giving up two runs. Obeso allowed a run on two hits with two strikeouts.
• Kyle Crowl homered and drove in two runs.
• Kace Massner walked twice and scored a run.
• TJ Black had a hit, run and an RBI.
News and Notes
•
Mason Green improves to 8-0 this season.
• The save is the third for Mercer this season and the 12th of his career moving him into a tie for ninth all-time in career saves.
•
Mason Janvrin extended his reached base streak to 55 games this season, just two off the single-season mark, and 67 straight dating back to last year.
• Janvrin also had three more hits, giving him 103 in his career, second most in a single-season in UCM history and one shy of the record set in 1990. Janvrin also entered the Mules top-10 in single season (36) and career (76) stolen bases.
• During the three games the Mules have played in the Central Region, Janvrin was 10-14 (.714) with six runs and five RBI.
• The Mules hit .370 as a team in the regional.
• Mules starting pitchers combined to allow six earned runs in 21 innings, a 2.57 ERA with 12 strikeouts. Opponents hit just .207 against UCM pitching this weekend.
• The Mules last six games have either been against Missouri Southern or Central Oklahoma. They went 5-1 in those games and 3-0 against Central Oklahoma.
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Erik Webb's home run was his 19th this season, putting him third all-time in a single season. He is one away from tying for second in career home runs at UCM. He also needs one more double to tie for the UCM single season doubles record.
• The Mules had a .984 fielding percentage this weekend, making just two errors.
Up Next
• The Mules will take on Augustana in a best two-of-three series starting Friday, May 24 at 6 p.m. in Sioux Falls. The winner of the series will be the Central Region representative in the Division II College World Series.
