JOPLIN, Mo. – The top two teams in the MIAA baseball standings after one week of conference play met for a doubleheader Friday in Joplin and the results looked like two teams knotted at the top. Missouri Western (6-6, 4-1) lost a one-run game and won a one-run game at No. 25 Missouri Southern (11-4, 4-1).

The home team scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth in game one to come back and win 5-4. There was no comeback against Anthony Castaneda in game two, a 1-0 win for the Griffons.

GAME 1
Missouri Southern 5, Missouri Western 4

• MWSU took a 4-1 lead with three runs in the top of the eighth
• Missouri Southern scored two in the bottom of the eighth and two more in the bottom of the ninth for the walk-off win
• A pitcher’s duel through the first six-plus innings, MWSU’s Jacob Purl held Southern to one run on four hits through six innings
• Defending MIAA Co-Pitcher of the week Zach Parrish allowed just three hits through seven innings for Missouri Southern
• Nolan Monthei broke a 1-1 tie with a solo home run to left in the eighth inning
• Three of MWSU’s four hits in the game all came in the eighth inning
• Carson Dwyre (2-1) took the loss, allowing two runs on three hits in the ninth inning

GAME 2
Missouri Western 1, Missouri Southern 0

• Anthony Castaneda (3-0) pitched a complete game shutout, striking out 12 and allowing just one hit with one walk
• 11 of Castaneda’s strikeouts came in the first seven innings. He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth
• Casey Danley had three of the Griffons’ five hits in the game and was a home run short of the cycle
• Fahd Shakeel, the reigning MIAA Hitter of the Week, drove in the game’s lone run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth

UP NEXT
The rubber match between the two is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Saturday in Joplin.

— MWSU Athletics —