WARRENSBURG, Mo. – Josh Patrick and
Vance Tobol homered,
Brennen van Breusegen recorded three hits, and
Conner Wolf struck out five leading No. 2-ranked and top-seeded Central Missouri Mules baseball to an 11-6 victory over the sixth-seeded Arkansas-Monticello Boll Weevils in game one of a best-of-three NCAA-II Super Regional series Friday, May 24, at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
The Mules (51-8) and Boll Weevils (35-23) are scheduled to play game two of the series Saturday, May 25, at 2 p.m. in Warrensburg. With a win, UCM would secure the program's 20th NCAA-II Regional Championship and berth in the NCAA-II College World Series.
Central Missouri gained an early 5-0 advantage after scoring a run each in the third and fifth innings and three in the fourth.
Jack Schark put UCM on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third with an RBI single to left-center before Tobol crushed a lead-off homer to dead centerfield and Patrick belted a two-run, inside-the-park home run to center, for the Mules' second and third runs of the inning. It was Tobol's 10th and Patrick's 12th homer of the season.
Carter Young scored on a double play in the bottom of the fifth, upping the UCM lead to 5-0, prior to the Mules plating six runs in the sixth to balloon the advantage to 11-2.
Van Breusegen powered an RBI double to right-center for the opening run of the frame before
Chase Heath smacked an RBI single up the middle, Young hit a two-run single to right field, and
Max Holy hit a sacrifice fly to right-center, capping off the six-run inning.
Van Breusegen ended the game 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and RBI while Schark was 2-for-3. Patrick went 1-for-3 with his home run, three runs and two RBIs,
Cole Moore was 1-for-3 with two runs, Heath was 1-for-4 and drove in a run, Tobol was 1-for-4 with his solo home run, and Young was 1-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs, rounding out the UCM offensive leaders.
Wolf improved to a perfect 12-0 on the mound in 2024 after allowing two earned runs on just three hits with five Ks and only one walk in five innings.
Kirk Woolf was 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs, pacing the Boll Weevils at the plate.
UAM starting pitcher Connor Irvine (9-2) took the setback on the rubber, surrendering five runs – four earned – on five hits with two strikeouts and three walks in four innings of work.
Central Missouri also set a new MIAA record for RBIs in a single-season in the victory and now sit at 592 runs batted in in 59 games.
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