Mules Rally For Two Comeback Wins in Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (Jan. 30, 2021) - Call it two comebacks. Central Missouri Mules baseball rallied in both of their games at Minute Maid Park Saturday afternoon. First after getting down 7-1 against St. Mary's, the Mules scored seven unanswered for an 8-7 comeback win. In game two, UCM trailed 3-0 before scoring five straight for their second come-from-behind win of the day, 5-3. The two games Saturday concluded the Mules time at the Houston Winter Invitational with a 3-1 record.

Game One - Central Missouri 8, St. Mary's 7
How it Happened
• St. Mary's pounded out 14 hits, five for extra bases. The Mules collected nine.
• Mules pitchers battled stranding seven Rattler's on base. 
• Both teams threw strikes with only two combined walks, one for each team.
• For the third straight game the Mules allowed a first inning run. Two singles and a stolen base gave the Rattlers a 1-0 lead.
• The Mules tied the game in the second on Alex Madera's RBI groundout after Harrison Schnurbusch and Dusty Stroup led off the inning with singles.
• The score remained tied until the fifth when St. Mary's loaded the bases with nobody out. UCM almost limited the damage to just one run, but a two out, three-run home run from Mitchell Caskey put the Rattlers up 5-1.
• St. Mary's added on in the sixth with a two-out run RBI double to left.
• The Mules started their comeback scoring a run in the sixth on Micah Evans' sacrifice fly. The inning started when Scott Wolverton legged out an infield single.
• The seventh was the big inning for the Mules. Dusty Stroup started it with a tape-measure home run to left. From there, the Mules stuck to small ball to plate three more runs.
• Cole Moore's RBI single scored Garrett Pennington before a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly made it a one-run game.
• Schnurbusch started the eighth with a walk and pinch runner Patrick Connor stole second to put the tying run in scoring position. Stroup came through again with a game-tying single to left scoring Connor.
• After Stroup made it to third, Madera drove him in with a ground out, despite the infield defense playing in on the grass. 
• That run proved to be the game winner as Evan Rathburn worked around two base hits in the ninth to collect the save.

Mules Stat Leaders
• Dusty Stroup went 3-4 with a home run and two RBI. He also scored the game-winning run.
• Cole Moore finished with a hit, run and and RBI. He also stole a base.
• Scott Wolverton had a hit and a run in two at bats.
• Alex Madera didn't collect a hit, but two ground outs drove in runs.
• Conor Dryer got the start and threw four innings allowing a run on four hits with four strikeouts.
• Grayson Senn got the win in relief throwing 2.1 scoreless innings with two hits and a strikeout.
• Evan Rathburn worked around two hits for the save with a strikeout.

For the Rattlers
• Zach De La Garza pitched the first 6.1 innings. He gave up five runs on seven hits with four strikeouts.
• Mitchell Caskey finished 2-5 with a three run home run.
• Johnny Hernandez collected three hits.
• Fernie Zubia was 3-4 with two RBI.
• Ryan McGowan drove in two runs with a hit and a run scored. 

Game 2 - Central Missouri 5, Arkansas Tech 3
How It Happened
• The game started, as all four games this weekend have with the Mules allowing a run in the first inning. This time a two-out hit-by-pitch followed by a two-run home run put the Mules in a 2-0 hole.
• The Wonder Boys made it 3-0 in the fourth after a double, single and an RBI ground out.
• UCM's offense finally got on the board in the bottom half of the fourth. Cole Moore led off with a single and eventually scored on Micah Evans' RBI ground out.
• An inning later, it was another ground ball that scored a run. With two on and one out, Brennan vanBruesegen hit a one-hopper to short. What looked like a double play was not to be as the first baseman was pulled off the bag on the throw from second. Cole Taylor never stopped running and scored all the way from second making it a 3-2 ballgame.
• The Mules got their first lead in the sixth. Dusty Stroup's two out RBI single brought home Cole Moore with the tying run and Garrett Pennington put the Mules ahead with a single of his own.
• Chase Plymell kept putting up zeroes and the Mules got some insurance in the eighth thanks to Alex Madera. His two-out RBI double off the top of the fence in left brought home Cole Taylor.
• The Wonder Boys put the go ahead run on base in the ninth, but Evan Rathburn shut the door with a pair of strikeouts.

Mules Stat Leaders
• Alex Madera finished the game 3-4 with an RBI double.
• Cole Taylor also collected three hits in four at bats with two runs scored.
• Cole Moore started at second and hit leadoff. He finished 2-3 with two runs scored.
• Micah Evans and Dusty Stroup each went 1-4 with an RBI.
• Collin Jones started and lasted five innings giving up three runs on four hits with two strikeouts. He was the only Mule to throw five innings this weekend. 
• Chase Plymell threw 3.1 scoreless innings out of the pen to earn the win.
• Evan Rathburn struck out the only two batters he faced to earn the save.

For the Wonder Boys
• Riyan Rodriguez tossed 5.2 innings giving up four runs, three earned on eight hits with three strikeouts.
• Garrett Crews was 2-4 with a two run home run and two runs scored.
• Evan Hafley scored a run and was 1-3 and was also hit by a pitch.

News and Notes
• The bottom of the order did damage for the Mules in game one. 6-9 picked up four of the Mules nine hits while the top four spots had two singles.
• Evan Rathburn earned a save in both ends of Saturday's double-feature.
• The Mules allowed a first inning run in all four games in Houston.
• Harrison Schnurbusch picked up career RBI number 100.
• The Mules were very aggressive at the dish, walking just three times in four games.
• Mule pitchers fanned 40 batters in 36 innings.
• Central Missouri was trailing until at least the sixth inning of both games Saturday.

Up Next
• The Mules are off for a few weeks. They'll welcome Davenport University to Warrensburg for a three-game set Feb. 19-21.