WARRENSBURG, Mo. – No. 4-ranked Central Missouri Mules baseball posted an 11-6 win over the No. 20-ranked Pittsburg State Gorillas in the opening game of a three-game MIAA series Friday afternoon, Feb. 28, at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
The Mules (10-2, 4-0 MIAA), who have now won seven straight games, will face the Gorillas (10-2, 2-2 MIAA) in game two Saturday afternoon, March 1, at 2 p.m. in Warrensburg.
UCM fell behind early, 4-0, before getting on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning when
Jacob Steele belted his first home run of the season – a three-run round-tripper to left-center – to cut the Pittsburg State lead to 4-3.
Central Missouri tied the game, 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth when
Cole Kreisel hit a RBI infield single to third base, scoring
Chase Wilcox for the tying run.
The Mules kept the scoring going in the fifth, scoring three runs to take a 7-4 advantage.
Austin Buie hit a ground-out to second base, bringing in Steele for the go-ahead run, before
Nick Beech and Wilcox hit back-to-back RBI singles for the second and third runs of the frame.
Pittsburg State plated two in the sixth to trim the UCM lead to 7-6, but Central Missouri responded with a run in the seventh and three in the eighth to secure the 11-6 triumph.
For the game, Steele went 4-for-5 with a homer, three runs and five RBI while Kreisel was 3-for-4 with a double, two runs and RBI, pacing Central Missouri at the plate. Buie,
Dayvin Johnson and
Chase Heath added doubles in the contest, and Wilcox tallied two hits.
UCM reliever
JD McReynolds (1-0) earned the win on the mound after throwing four innings and allowing two earned runs on four hits with five strikeouts and no walks on 53 pitches.
Alex Rodgers, Rickey Sanchez, Dagen Brewer and Andrew Branson each had two hits to lead the Gorillas offensively.
Pittsburg State starting pitcher Maddox Thornton (3-1) suffered the loss on the rubber, giving up seven earned runs on 10 hits with five strikeouts and two walks in 4 2/3 innings.
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