The Missouri Western baseball team split two very competitive games on Sunday afternoon in Emporia. The Griffons scored the final four runs in a 4-2 victory over the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs before giving up the final three runs in a 10-9 extra inning loss against the Emporia State Hornets. The Griffons fall to 2-3 with the loss.
Game 1
MWSU 4, Southwest Minnesota State 2
The Missouri Western baseball team was able to win a pitchers dual against the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs. David Chew hit a two RBI single in the bottom of the 8th inning giving the Griffons the 4-2 victory. Mason Queen pitched an outstanding game in relief going 5.1 innings giving up just two hits while striking out six. He improves to 1-0 with the victory.
The Mustangs jumped out a 2-0 lead in the 4rd inning capitalizing on two hits and two Griffon errors.
The score stayed 2-0 until the fourth inning when Chew walked and Will Carter hit his first homer of his career tying the score at two after four inning of play.
The score stayed that way until the bottom of the 8th when Trevor LaHonta walked and stole second. Cody Childs reached on an error by the first baseman. LaHonta and Childs advanced a base on a wild pitch and then Chew got the game winning single giving the Griffons the 4-2 lead.
Tyler Sanders came in to get the save for the Griffons. He pitched one inning getting strike out and two ground outs to end the game. It is Sanders first save of his career.
Matt Russell started the game for the Griffons going 2.2 innings giving up two hits and one earned run while striking out three. Russell did struggle finding the plate walking four.
James Callahan went seven innings for the Mustangs giving up two hits and two earned runs while striking out four. Brandyn Olsen got the loss going just 1/3 of an inning. Southwest Minnesota State had four hits with Jordan Kontz going 2-for-3. They fall to 1-3 with the loss.
Game 2
Emporia State 10, MWSU 9 (10 innings)
The Griffons came oh so close to complete their second comeback of the day but three late runs by Emporia State downed the Griffons 10-9 in 10 innings. The Griffons finished with 10 hits and three home runs in the game. Jerad Hawkins picks of the loss pitching 1.1 innings giving up two hits and one earned run. He falls to 1-1 with the loss.
In a crazy back and forth game the Hornets jumped out to the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Justin Harris reached on an error by the Griffon second baseman and later scored on a single by Dean Long. The Griffons responded in the second as Ryan Degner reached on an error and scored on a ground out by Zach Kroymann. The score was tied at one after an inning and a half.
In the bottom of the second inning mistakes and walks hurt the Griffons as Emporia State scored two runs on a Todd Schultz single and another on a ground out by Justin Harris making it 4-1 Hornets after two. ESU put another run on the board in the third when Toby Cornejo double scoring Mason Fischer giving the Hornets the 5-1 lead after three.
In the fifth the Hornets went up by another run when Wade Hanna doubled in Fischer giving the Hornets the 6-1 lead. ESU kept up the scoring in the 7th as Hanna hit a SAC fly puting the Hornets up 7-1.
In the top of the 8th the Griffon offense finally got going as Dylan Koch led off with a single which was followed by a Trevor LaHonta double. With one out Chew singled in Koch cutting the score to 7-2 in favor of the Hornets. The next two batter used the long ball cutting the score to 7-6. Degner blasted a three run homer while Jake Schrader blasted a solo.
Matt Estes reached on an error by the catcher which scored Zach Kroymann tying the game at seven. Two batters later Koch reached on an ESU error which scored Estes giving the Griffons the 8-7 lead. The score stayed that way until the top of the 9th when Schrader hit another homer giving the Griffons the 9-7 lead heading to the bottom of the 9th. Schrader has four hits on the season with all of them being homers.
In the 9th the Hornets tied the score after David Richards blasted a two run homer off Sanders. In the tenth the Griffons stranded two runners before the Hornets rallied with two outs in the 10th getting the victory. Hawkins walked long and then back-to-back singles by Richards and Price Jacobs helped ESU move to 3-0 on the season.
Eight Griffons had hits in the game with LaHonta and Schrader each getting two. Degner and Schrader each scored two runs. CJ Koehler started the game going three innings giving up five hits and five earned runs while striking out two. Tyler Tuepker and Grant Woods both pitched two innings giving up two hits apiece and one earned run. Sanders pitched 1.1 innings giving up two hits and two earned runs while Kyle Kelly and Josh Lansangan walked the only batter they faced.
ESU had 13 hits in the game with Levi Parker going 3-for-5 while Long and Richards each had two hits. Jarrod Miller started the game going 6.0 innings giving up one earned run and two hits while striking out four. Garrett Bane got the victory going 1/3 of an inning.
The Griffons will open up MIAA play next weekend with a four game series against the Northeastern State RiverHawks. The two teams are scheduled to play in St. Joseph, Mo. with the first game on Friday, February 21 at 2:00 pm at the Griffon Baseball Field.
— MWSU Sports Information —