HAYS, Kan. – No. 16-ranked University of Central Missouri Mules Baseball hit five home runs on 11 hits to help it crush the Fort Hays State Tigers, 15-2, in the series opener of a three-game MIAA series on Friday, April 10, at Larks Park.
The Mules (27-8, 17-6 MIAA) and Tigers (11-25, 8-18 MIAA) are scheduled to play game two of the series at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 11, in Hays, Kan.
Central Missouri jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when
Ryker Edwards and
Kaleb Ceola hit back-to-back RBI doubles. UCM doubled its advantage to 4-0 in the top of the fourth inning after
Brock Kobel scored on a wild pitch and
Austin Buie crossed home plate on a passed ball.
The Tigers trimmed the lead to 4-2 with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the fourth, but UCM responded in the fifth, increasing its lead to 5-2 on a sacrifice fly from Ceola.
The Mules' bats ignited in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings, as Central Missouri scored a combined 10 runs on five homers for its 15 runs in the game.
Kobel started the trend in the top of the seventh inning after he crushed the first pitch he saw over the left field wall for a three-run homer, his third of 2026.
Cole Funkhouser went deep in the top of the eighth, belting a two-run shot to left-center, before hitting his second home run of the game and third of the season, another two-run round-tripper to left-center, in the ninth.
Ceola smacked his first collegiate homer – a solo home run in the ninth inning, and
Michael Smosna hit a two-run home run to left field in the ninth, his first of the season.
Funkhouser drove in a game-best four runs on his two homers, while Ceola was a perfect 3-for-3 with a home run, double, and three RBI, and Kobel was 1-for-2 with his three-run home run, leading the Mules offensively.
UCM left-handed starting pitcher
Sawyer Allen (5-0) earned the win on the mound after allowing just two earned runs on three hits with seven strikeouts and zero walks in seven innings pitched.
Allen and relief pitcher
Tommy Gross combined for nine strikeouts and zero walks in the victory.
For the game, Central Missouri outhit Fort Hays State, 11-3. Â
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