WARRENSBURG, Mo. (May 30, 2021) - Central Missouri Mules Baseball will play for the 2021 NCAA Division II Central Region Championship. The Mules defeated Southern Arkansas to remain in the winners bracket and are now one win away from a trip to Cary, N.C. UCM got five innings from
Conor Dryer and four hitless innings from their bullpen in a 4-2 win. The Mules also move to 42-6 on the seasonĀ
How it Happened
ā¢ The Mules scattered 12 hits in eight trips to the plate scoring four runs.
ā¢ Southern Arkansas worked out of trouble stranding nine runners on base.
ā¢ The Muleriders put together four hits scoring two runs. Two of their four hits were doubles.
ā¢ Neither team committed an error, the first time in three Mules games this weekend there's been an error-free game.
ā¢ Central Missouri got the scoring started in the third inning.
Dusty Stroup's sinking line drive fell in just in front of the right fielder and scored
Josh Schumacher from first base for a 1-0 lead.
ā¢ In the fourth,
Garrett Pennington made it 2-0. He he a rope that just snuck over the fence in left field for a solo home run. The Mules added another run on
Scott Wolverton's RBI single to score
Donovan Ditto.
ā¢ Arkansas Southern made it a one-run game in the fifth. A two-out, two-RBI double from Kobe Morris cut the Mules lead down to 3-2.
ā¢ In the home half of the fifth, it was
Garrett Pennington again driving in a run. His squeeze bunt brought in
Dusty StroupĀ for a 4-2 lead.
ā¢ The Mules bullpen took over from there throwing four hitless innings to send UCM to the regional championship.Ā
Mules Stat Leaders
ā¢
Scott Wolverton was 3-4 at the plate with an RBI.
ā¢
Garrett Pennington had a home run and drove in two runs.
ā¢
Conor Dryer started and tossed the first five innings. He allowed two runs on four hits while striking out six.
ā¢
Dusty Stroup and
Micah Evans each had two hits and a run scored. Stroup also reached with a walk and picked up an RBI.
ā¢
Chase Plymell and
Max Abramovich each worked two scoreless innings in relief.Ā
For the Muleriders
ā¢ Santos Sosa threw an eight-inning complete game allowing 12 hits and four runs with two walks and two strikeouts.
ā¢ Kobe Morris was 1-4 with two runs batted in.
ā¢ Ty Manning singled and scored.
News and Notes
ā¢ For the second straight game, the Mules scored all their runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings.Ā
ā¢
Chase Plymell earned his second save of the season.Ā
ā¢
Micah Evans picked up two hits to up his reached-base streak to 40 straight games.
ā¢ Central Missouri has now held opponents to two-runs or less in 19 games this season.
ā¢
Garrett Pennington's fourth inning home run was the Mules first home run of the regional
Up Next
ā¢ Central Missouri advances to the Central Region Championship game. They'll play tomorrow at 11 a.m. needing one win to move on to Cary, N.C. and the Division II World Series.
