HAYS, Kan. – Garrett Pennington homered twice, and
Michael Chrisman,
Sam Tatum,
Isaiah Pani and
Carter Young each homered once, leading fourth-ranked Central Missouri Mules baseball to a 12-2, eight-inning win at Fort Hays State in the series finale of a three-game MIAA series Sunday, May 1, at Larks Park.
With the victory, the Mules complete a series sweep of the Tigers and end their regular season with an overall record of 37-6 and a MIAA mark of 30-3.
Central Missouri, which clinched its 28th MIAA Regular Season Championship in program history back on April 15, will be the top seed in the MIAA Baseball Championship and will host eighth-seeded Emporia State in a best-of-three first-round series May 6-8 at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field in Warrensburg.
The Mules scored at least one run in every inning except the sixth, with Central Missouri utilizing a three-run first and four-run seventh to put the game out of reach.
Chrisman belted the second pitch of the game over the right field wall for his fifth homer of the season, giving UCM its opening run of the contest in the first before Pennington roped a double to right field, plating
Brennen van Breusegen, and Tatum hit a sacrifice fly to left field, bringing in
John Prudhom, to put the Mules in front, 3-0, through a half inning.
UCM added a run each in the second, third, fourth, fifth, prior to exploding for four runs in the top of the seventh to balloon its advantage to 11-1. Central Missouri's run in the fifth came courtesy of Tatum's third homer of 2022 – a solo home run to right.
Pennington hit a 1-0 pitch over the centerfield wall for his first home run of the game before Pani crushed a two-run shot to left-field for his fifth homer of 2022, and Young hit an inside-the-park round-tripper – his second home run of the season – for the Mules' four runs in the frame.
Pennington put an exclamation mark on the game in the top of the eighth, crushing his second homer of the game and sixth of the season – a solo shot to right, scoring Central Missouri's 12th run of the game.
For the game, Pennington went 3-for-4 with his two homers and a double and drove in three runs while Tatum added a 3-for-4 showing with his home run and a trio of runs batted in. Pani was 2-for-3 with his round-tripper and two RBIs, rounding out the offensive leaders for UCM.
Harrison Babbitt (3-0) earned the victory on the mound after throwing three innings in relief and allowing one earned run on two hits with five strikeouts and zero walks.
Grant Schmidt went 1-for-3 with a home run, pacing the Tigers (4-41, 3-30 MIAA) at the plate.
Fort Hays State starter Padraic Walsh (0-2) suffered the setback on the rubber after surrendering nine runs – seven earned – on 11 hits with one strikeout and two walks in 6 1/3 innings.
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