WARRENSBURG, Mo. – No. 4-ranked and top-seeded Central Missouri Mules baseball advanced to the MIAA Baseball Championship semifinals after turning back the eighth-seeded Rogers State Hillcats, 7-1, Saturday night, May 6, at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
With the win, the Mules (38-13) completed a two-game, series sweep of the Hillcats (26-22) in the best-of-three first round series. UCM will host the double-elimination semifinal and championship rounds of the MIAA Baseball Championship and will face No. 4-seeded Pittsburg State Thursday, May 11, at noon in Warrensburg.
Central Missouri jumped out to a 3-0 lead with three runs in the bottom of the second inning.
Brennen van Breusegen hit an RBI fielder's choice, scoring
Vance Tobol for the first run of the inning, before
Mason Lowe smacked a two-RBI single up the middle, plating
Max Holy and van Breusegen for the second and third runs of frame.
The Mules tacked on two more runs in the sixth when van Breusegen hit an RBI single to left field, driving in Tobol, and Holy dropped down a bunt, allowing Tobol to cross home plate, increasing the advantage to 5-0.
UCM put an exclamation point on the game in the bottom of the seventh after van Breusegen demolished a 2-0 pitch down the left field line and
Chase Heath crushed a 2-2 offering over the left field fence for solo homers. The home runs were van Breusegen's fifth and Heath's second round-trippers of the season.
Van Breusegen went 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs and three RBI while Tobol was 2-for-3 with two runs, Heath was 1-for-1 with a homer, and Lowe drove in two runs, pacing Central Missouri at the plate.
UCM reliever
Jacob Beauchamp (2-0) earned the victory on the mound, giving up no earned runs on two hits with two strikeouts and zero walks in an inning.
Geovanni Blackshaw went 2-for-4, pacing the Hillcats offensively.
Rogers State starting pitcher Nate Wohlgemuth (3-3) suffered the loss on the rubber after surrendering five earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts and two walks in six innings of work.Â
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