The Missouri Western baseball team fell in the MIAA Championship 6-3 against the Missouri Southern Lions on Saturday afternoon. The Griffons had 10 hits and left 10 runners on base falling to 40-10 on the season. The Griffons will wait and see where they will be seeded in the NCAA National Tournament.

The Griffons got a strong pitching performance from Mark Sprekels as he held the Lions scoreless through 5.2 giving up just four hits. He left the game with a 2-0 lead.

Michael Schulze led off the game with a single and later scored on a Nate Ramler single giving MWSU the 1-0 lead. In the seventh the Griffons took a 2-0 lead when Jake Schrader reached on an error and later scored on a Kyle Simpson single. The single by Simpson gave him an MWSU single season record 60 RBI.

In the seventh the Lions had got four hits and three runs taking a 3-2 lead after seven. The score remained 3-2 until the top of the ninth when Shawn Egge tripled and scored on a Schulze single tying the score 3-3.

In the bottom of the ninth Logan Hollingsworth got the first two outs of the inning, but then three straight hits including Sam Ryan’s second homer of the day gave the Lions the 6-3 victory.

Hollingsworth went two innings in the loss. He falls to 5-2 on the season. Simpson led the Griffons going 3-for-5 in the game.

The Lions Drew Noble went the distance giving up 10 hits while striking out five. He improves to 7-3 with the win. Michael McCoy and Dallas Burke each had three hits as the Lions improve to 34-20 on the season.

The selection show will be Sunday, May 12th, the NCAA and WebStream Sports will be producing a Division II Baseball selection show. The show, which will air on NCAA.com at 10pm ET, will reveal the teams moving on to regional play.

— MWSU Sports Information —