EDMOND, Okla. – No. 2-ranked Central Missouri Mules baseball stayed alive in the MIAA Baseball Championship, presented by Mammoth Sports Construction, winning a pair of elimination games Friday, May 13, at Wendell Simmons Field on the University of Central Oklahoma campus to advance to the tournament championship game. The Mules defeated the Pittsburg State Gorillas, 15-4, before knocking off the Northeastern State RiverHawks, 12-2 in seven innings.
Central Missouri (41-7), which eclipsed the 40-win threshold for the 21st time in program history, will face Washburn at noon Saturday, May 14, in the championship game. UCM will have to beat the Ichabods twice to win the MIAA Baseball Championship.
In the 15-4 victory over the Gorillas in the opening game of the day, the Mules led 7-4 before putting up eight runs in the top of the ninth to burst the game wide open and go on to the 11-run triumph.
John Prudhom went 3-for-6 with his team-best 17th homer of the season and a double, going along with four runs scored and a pair of RBIs, while
Harrison Schnurbusch went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, three runs scored and two runs batted in, and
Garrett Pennington went 4-for-6 with three RBIs and a home run, leading Central Missouri at the plate against Pittsburg State.
UCM reliever
Conner Wolf (4-1) earned the win on the mound, throwing a career-high six innings and allowing no earned runs on just three hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
Garrett McGowan and Jordan Maxon each posted homers, pacing the Gorillas (31-21).
Pittsburg State starter Peyton Ingalls (7-3) took the loss, giving up seven runs – just one earned – on eight hits with one strikeout and a walk in two innings.
In the Mules' 12-2, seven-inning win in the nightcap against the RiverHawks, UCM plated four runs in the bottom of the second inning and kept rolling, scoring three in the fifth, four in the sixth and one in the seventh while holding Northeastern State to just one run each in the third and sixth on the way to the run-rule victory.
Prudhom was 4-for-5 with a double and drove in two runs, while
Isaiah Pani went 2-for-3 with a double and his seventh homer of the season, in addition to three RBIs. Pennington went deep for the second consecutive game and the ninth time in 2022 with a solo home run, and
Michael Chrisman and
Donovan Ditto each had two hits, including doubles, leading Central Missouri offensively.
UCM starting pitcher
Grayson Senn (2-0) earned the win on the mound, tossing a career-best six innings and surrendering just two earned runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts and zero walks.
Tucker Dunlap went 3-for-3, while Blaze Brothers and Brock Reller homered, pacing the RiverHawks (37-16).
Northeastern State starter Quinten Romero (1-1) suffered the setback on the rubber, allowing four earned runs on four hits with zero strikeouts and two walks in 1 1/3 innings.
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