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Author: Dave Riggert

Cuthbert homers twice in Royals’ 5-4 win over White Sox

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — It took the Kansas City Royals 27 games, but they finally have a winning streak.

Cheslor Cuthbert homered twice and drove in four runs as the Royals won back-to-back games for the first time this season, defeating the Chicago White Sox 5-4 Sunday.

Whit Merrifield singled home Alcides Escobar, who was hit by a pitch to leadoff the inning, with the go-ahead run in the eighth off Bruce Rondon (1-1). Escobar left in the ninth with a left hand contusion.

“It’s been a struggle for us so far,” Merrifield said. “That was a big one. Hopefully that can get us over the hump and we can have more of those.”

Cuthbert, who had not homered since August 20 — a span on 109 at-bats — drove a Hector Santiago pitch into the White Sox bullpen in the fourth to snap an 0-for-14.

“Finally,” Cuthbert said. “It’s really fun to have a game like that and for us to get a win.”

He homered in the fifth with Salvador Perez and Jorge Soler aboard off Chris Volstad. It was Cuthbert’s second career multi-homer game. The other was June 11, 2016.

“I feel like it was a pretty good pitch, down and in,” Volstad said. “He just dropped the barrel of the bat on it and he hit it pretty high. I didn’t know if it was going to get out or not. It barely did.”

Royals starter Ian Kennedy left after five innings with a 4-2 lead, but reliever Brian Flynn could not hold it.

“It’s been frustrating overall all, just trying to find those back-to-back wins,” Kennedy said.

Daniel Palka doubled home two White Sox runs in the fourth, giving him five RBI in two games.

Santiago was making his first start of the season after seven relief appearances and was removed after 4 2/3 innings and 86 pitches.

“I felt great in that fifth inning,” he said. “I think they were kind of thinking 85. It’s baby steps when you’re coming out of the pen and trying to get to stretched out to 100 pitches. They’re always cautious about that big jump from 50 to 100 in one outing.”

Leury Garcia’s two-out triple in the sixth scored Trayce Thompson, cutting the Royals lead to 4-3. Nicky Delmonico’s run-producing double in the seventh tied the score.

The Royals loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh, but failed to score. Kansas City is 4-for-25, .160, with the bases loaded this season.

“That’s how it is been going for us,” Merrifield said. “It really couldn’t have gotten much worse for us as far as runners on third and less than two out, all that kind of stuff.”

Brandon McCarthy (2-0) picked up the victory, while Blaine Boyer logged his fifth career save and his first since May 29, 2016 while with Milwaukee.

SPEAKING

“Somehow from spring to the beginning of the season, I just completely got out of whack,” said Boyer, who has a 15.00 ERA in nine innings. “It’s frustrating after 19 years in the game and you feel like you fall off a bicycle and you get back on and don’t know how to ride it again. I’m glad to be back to my normal self.”

NOT OVER YET

The quarrel between Royals catcher Perez and White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson may not be finished. The two exchanged words Saturday after Perez thought Anderson celebrated too much after a leadoff home run. “I play this game with my heart and I put a lot of work into it and I’m not going to change because of that,” Anderson said. “It’s not the first incident and it’s probably not going to be the last.” The two teams meet 12 more times this season with the next nine in Chicago. “(Matt) Davidson, he has a pretty good season here, nobody to hit him, you know,” Perez said. “He hits the ball, homer and runs hard. Why you gotta hit him? No. But if you’re gonna do that (bleep) to us, we’re gonna hit you. We will tell the pitcher, `hit him.” Davidson has seven home runs against the Royals this season.

RENTERIA RETURNS

White Sox manager Rick Renteria returned after missing the three games Friday and Saturday to attend his mother’s funeral services in Austin, Texas. “Our family is very grateful to everybody,” he said. “We had a lot of outpouring from the game. My family’s very thankful for that. We think she’s in a much better place now. We see her laughing in our mind’s eye, now. I’m sure she’ll be up there cheering the White Sox on with my dad and probably arguing (with the umpires) out there with me every now and then.” He said he received game reports updates while away. “Kind of kept up with everything,” Renteria said.

UP NEXT

White Sox: After an off-day Monday, RHP James Shields will start Tuesday at St. Louis. He is 0-3 with a 9.00 ERA in his last three starts.

Royals: RHP Jason Hammel will start Monday at Boston in the opener of a three-game series.

— Associated Press —

Missouri loses back-and-forth game at No. 13 Kentucky

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LEXINGTON, Ky. – After Mizzou Baseball rallied from down 6-1 to take a 10-6 lead, Kentucky’s Cole Kottam hit a go-ahead eighth-inning grand slam as the Wildcats claimed the series finale, 11-10,Sunday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Field. The loss drops Mizzou to 29-15 and 9-12 in SEC play while Kentucky improves to 29-15 and 10-11 in league games.

Junior RHP Bryce Montes De Oca took the loss, allowing the Cottam slam after reliever Nile Ball loaded the bases after what was a gutty outing for Ball as Mizzou rallied to take the lead. Montes De Oca falls to 5-3 on the year. Mizzou got two men on in the ninth, but Zach Hanna struck out to strand the tying run in scoring position.

Mizzou got homers from Trey Harris and Brian Sharp, the latter of which was a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning.

TURNING POINT

After falling behind 6-1, Mizzou slowly chipped away at Kentucky’s lead and ultimately tied the game in the seventh inning on a bases-loaded infield single by SS Chris Cornelius. The lineup then turned over to the top and Sharp stepped in and launched a 2-1 pitch over the wall in left field for a grand slam homer, putting Mizzou on top 10-6.

That capped a stretch during which Mizzou scored nine straight runs with big hit after big hit. The hit that got Mizzou back in the game was a two-run blast by RF Trey Harris in the fifth inning. Mizzou then scored two more in the sixth on a Connor Brumfield homer and a Harris two-out RBI single. That set the stage for Mizzou’s five-run seventh inning.

But the lead did not hold. Ball, who was terrific in his first 4.0 innings of work, ran into a wall in the eighth and loaded the bases, hitting two batters in that stretch. That brought in Cottam and Mizzou went to the bullpen to get Montes De Oca. Cottam then turned on a 1-0 pitch and deposited it over the wall in left center for the game-winning slam.

QUOTING MIZZOU

Head Coach Steve Bieser

“Just a real tough loss. We battled. One thing we have to be proud of is that we competed. We spotted them way too many early in that game and it was going to be tough to come back. Then we kind of get everything to swing our way and then I though we did some things late in the game that was not great game-winning baseball.”

TOP TIGERS

  • Junior 1B Brian Sharp extended his hitting streak to five games with a double to lead off the game. He scored a run in the first and then added the go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning.  He posted three hits in the loss.
  • Senior RF Trey Harris hit his team-leading ninth homer of the year, a two-run shot in the fifth inning. It was his second homer of the series.
  • Senior C Brett Bond picked up an RBI single in the first inning and posted a pair of first-inning RBIs during the series.
  • Freshman Chad McDaniel extended his hitting streak to six games with a fifth-inning single. He tallied six hits in the series and is hitting 21-for-54 (.389) over his last 19 games.
  • Junior CF Connor Brumfield hit his second career homer, a solo shot in the sixth inning, Sunday.

UP NEXT

Mizzou will continue its season Tuesday, stepping out of SEC play for a road game at Big Ten foe Iowa. First pitch for that game is at 3:05 p.m.

— Mizzou Athletics —

St. Louis gets blanked by Pittsburgh, Kingham in his MLB debut

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PITTSBURGH (AP) — Nick Kingham waited a long, long time to make it to a major league mound. When he finally got there, the moment was nearly perfect.

Kingham started out better than any pitcher in more than a half-century, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning of his big league debut and leading the Pittsburgh Pirates over the St. Louis Cardinals 5-0 Sunday.

Kingham retired the first 20 batters before Paul DeJong singled down the left-field line with two outs in the seventh.

“That’s how you plan it up, not to let anybody on,” Kingham said. “It’s incredible how it happened. Just kind of starting from the get-go, it went well. … It’s corny, but it took everybody. I’m really fortunate and really happy about it.”

The Elias Sports Bureau said no pitcher in the Expansion Era — since 1961 — had taken a perfect game bid so far in his debut. Wayne Simpson of the Reds in 1970 and Ken Cloude of the Mariners in 1997 each set down their first 16 batters.

“I was like, `You know what, it was a good run, man. It was fun while it lasted,” Kingham said.

Once a top Pirates prospect, Kingham’s path to the majors was interrupted by Tommy John surgery. The 26-year-old was 43-41 during nine seasons in the minors before getting called up from Triple-A Indianapolis before the game for a spot start.

Kingham joined Johnny Cueto in 2008 as the only pitchers in the last 100 years to give up one hit, strike out at least nine and walk none in his debut. Cueto started out his career with five perfect innings.

The crowd at PNC Park gave Kingham a big ovation after DeJong’s hit. Kingham then retired Marcell Ozuna on a grounder, and the fans stood and cheered while the rookie walked off the field and waved.

Kingham was taken out after seven innings. He fanned nine and threw 98 pitches, 72 for strikes.

More than the numbers, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was pleased with Kingham’s poise.

“It was his next start. Watching him, it was just his next start,” Hurdle said. “It had to be more than that. He compartmentalized very well.”

Elias Diaz had three hits and drove in two runs as the Pirates won their fifth straight and completed a three-game sweep of the Cardinals.

Luke Weaver (2-2) allowed in 5 1/3 innings. Naturally, he noticed Kingham’s performance.

“He’s obviously having a good game, so you have to stay with him and put up the zeros just like you normally would,” Weaver said. “You just try to put that to the side and let him do what he’s doing, and focus on the task at hand. . It was just a well-pitched ballgame from him.”

Weaver pitched five scoreless inning before walking the bases loaded with one out in the sixth.

Diaz hit a two-run single that finished Weaver, and Colin Moran had an RBI single off Jordan Hicks.

HELLO ROOKIE

Pittsburgh selected Kingham in the fourth round of the 2010 draft out of Sierra Vista High School in Las Vegas. He underwent Tommy John surgery in May 2015, causing him to miss most of the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

In four starts with Indianapolis this season, Kingham was 2-1 with a 1.59 ERA.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said OF Dexter Fowler was not available to play after he fell over a wall along the right-field line in St. Louis’ 6-2 loss Saturday. He is expected to return Tuesday, Matheny said.

Pirates: LHP Enny Romero was put on the 10-day disabled list with left shoulder impingement. The Pirates planned to designate him for assignment to make room for Kingham on the 25-man roster. Instead, he was placed on the DL, a move retroactive to Thursday, when it was discovered he injured his pitching shoulder during his most recent outing.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Michael Wacha (4-1, 3.62) will attempt to extend his winning streak to five games when he takes the mound against the Chicago White Sox at Busch Stadium on Tuesday. Wacha has won four straight starts since last losing on March 31, when he allowed four runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings against the New York Mets.

Pirates: RHP Jameson Taillon (2-2, 4.91) will try to get back on track when he starts against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on Monday. Taillon has surrendered a combined 12 runs in 5 1/3 innings over his past two starts.

— Associated Press —

Griffons pull away to take game two of series at Fort Hays State

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HAYS, Kan. – A four-run eighth inning opened up a tight ball game and vaulted Griffon Baseball (25-21, 17-15) to a 7-1 win over Fort Hays State (13-33, 5-27) on Saturday evening.

Missouri Western led 2-1 after seven innings, but scored four in the top of the eighth. The inning included an RBI double by Dusty Stroup and a two-run home run by Ryan Smith. All four Griffon runs in the inning were unearned as Fort Hays State committed one of its six errors in the game with two out in the inning. Six of the seven Griffon runs in the game were unearned.

NOTABLES

  • Brooks Day had two more hits, going 2-for-5 with a run scored. It extended Day’s hitting streak to 14 games. He’s batted .442 with six doubles, four home runs and two triples during the streak
  • Stroup went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored
  • Smith went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored as a reserve, entering for Nolan Meyer in the fourth
  • Preston Bailey picked up his sixth save of the season, pitching 3 2/3 innings. He struck out three and gave up a pair of hits
  • Levi Abrahamson (2-2) got the win, allowing one run on five hits through 5 1/3 innings. Abrahamson struck out four

UP NEXT
The Griffons go for the series sweep, Sunday, at 1 p.m. in the team’s final regular season road game.

— MWSU Athletics —

Royals end 5-game skid, beat White Sox to split doubleheader

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Eric Skoglund overcame a leadoff homer by Tim Anderson that led to a bench-clearing incident, pitching Kansas City past the Chicago White Sox 5-2 to end the Royals’ five-game losing streak and give them a split of Saturday’s day-night doubleheader.

Anderson celebrated as he rounded the bases and Royals catcher Salvador Perez said something to him as he crossed the plate.

In the bottom of the first, Perez reached on an error and moved to second base when Lucas Duda walked to load the bases. There, Perez and Anderson, the shortstop, had more words as both dugouts and bullpens emptied.

No punches were thrown and order was quickly restored. Perez and Anderson shook hands.

The White Sox won the opener 8-0 as Carson Fulmer allowed four singles over seven innings and Daniel Palka had four hits and drove in three runs.

Skoglund (1-2) pitched seven impressive innings to pick up his first win in nearly a year. He retired 15 straight after Anderson’s homer.

Skoglund permitted just two hits and struck out a career-high nine. His only other victory was May 30, 2017, in his big league debut.

Kelvin Herrera pitched the ninth for his fifth save in as many opportunities.

Alex Gordon drove in his first three runs of the season for Kansas City. He had a two-out, two-run single in a three-run first.

Dylan Covey (0-1) allowed four runs, three unearned after left fielder Leury Garcia’s first-inning error, over six innings.

Covey, just recalled from Triple-A Charlotte, is 0-8 in 13 major league starts.

Jorge Soler and Perez hit back-to-back doubles in the fifth for the other Kansas City run.

Fulmer (2-1) left after 109 pitches, walked three and struck out three. In his past two starts, he has allowed seven hits and two runs over 13 innings.

Palka, who was hitless in his first eight at-bats since debuting Wednesday, was a triple shy of a cycle. He hit a three-run homer in the seventh off Burch Smith.

Trevor Oaks (0-1), who was the Royals’ 26h man, gave up five runs on 12 hits over five innings in his major league debut.

WALKING MAN

Soler has walked in nine consecutive games, the longest streak in the majors this season.

BUCHHOLZ UPDATE

Royals RHP Clay Buchholz allowed one earned run on four hits over five innings in a no-decision in a start for Triple-A Omaha at Colorado Springs. The 33-year-old, who was a two-time AL All-Star with Boston, is 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in three minor league starts. He signed a minor league contract in late March with the Royals with an out clause if not added to the big league roster by Tuesday.

UP NEXT

The Royals will start RHP Ian Kennedy in the series finale. He left his previous start after three innings with a bruised toe from a line drive. The White Sox have not yet announced their starter.

— Associated Press —

Northwest Missouri State rolls past Southwest Baptist 14-3

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The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team defeated Southwest Baptist, 14-3, on Saturday at Bearcat Field in Maryville, Mo.

The Bearcats improve to 28-18 overall and 23-9 in MIAA play. SBU falls to 16-30 overall and 10-22 in conference action.

Key Northwest Statistics
– Northwest scored twice in the first, three in the third, one in the fourth, two in the second and six in the sixth inning. Southwest Baptist scored two in the sixth and one in the seventh.
– The Bearcats had 14 runs on 16 hits with no errors. SBU had three runs on five hits with two errors.
– Kevin Handzlik was perfect from the plate going 4-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBIs.
– Mondesi Gutierrez went 3-for-4 with an RBI, a walk and three runs scored.
– Hudson Bilodeau finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and a walk.
– Landon Figg went 2-for-3 with an RBI, a walk and three runs scored.
– Aaron Barratt was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, two runs scored, a walk and a two run homerun.
– Matt Schingel went 2-for-3 with a run scored and three RBIs.
– Luke Hassman 1-for-4 with an RBI and one run scored.
– Brad Roberts threw a complete game throwing seven innings allowed only three runs on five hits and struck out ten batters.

Key Northwest Innings
– After an out, Gutierrez doubled to left field and Figg reached on a walk. Handzlik would hit a sharp single down the right field line to Gutierrez and put runners on the corners. On an attempted double steal, Figg was able to score and make the score 2-0 in the first.

– With one out, Gutierrez tripled to center field and came in to score on a single to right field by Figg. After an out, Handzlik lined a single to right field to advance Figg and put runners on the corners. Barratt walked to load the bases and Schingel singled through the left side to score Figg and Handzlik to put the Bearcats ahead 5-0.

– In the bottom of the fourth inning with one out, Bilodeau double down the right field line and came in to score on a single to center field by Gutierrez.
– Handzlik started the fifth inning with a single to right field and would then come around to score on Barratt’s seventh homerun of the year to put the Cats up 8-0.

– Gutierrez drew a one out walk in the bottom of the sixth inning and advanced to third on a single down the right field line by Figg. Gutierrez came in to score on a double down the right field line by Hassman to put runners on second and third. Both runners came in to score on a hard single to right field by Handzlik. Barratt reached on a fielder’s choice and Schingel singled to the left field to score Handzlik. On an out, Barratt was able to come in and score while Schingel advanced to third. Rycraft reached on an error and Schingel came in to score to make the score 14-2.

Up Next
– Northwest will finish the series with Southwest Baptist Sunday, April 29th at 1 p.m. in Maryville, Mo.

— Northwest Athletics —

Tigers win slugfest at No. 13 Kentucky

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LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mizzou Baseball earned a hard-fought 14-11 win in game two of its series at No. 13 Kentucky Saturday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Field. Mizzou ran out to a 9-2 lead before a six-run sixth inning from the Wildcats tightened things up. The Tigers then got five runs in the eighth inning, three on Trey Harris’ team-leading eighth homer, to put the game away. The slugfest came less than 24 hours removed from a Friday night pitcher’s duel in game one.

Mizzou evens the series with the Wildcats and improves to 29-14 and 9-11 in SEC play. Kentucky falls to 28-15 and 9-11 in SEC play, setting up a huge Sunday rubber game at noon (CT) tomorrow on SEC Network+. Junior LHP Michael Plassmeyer earned the win, improving to 5-2 on the year. He allowed six runs on nine hits while striking out seven. RS junior Bryce Montes De Oca earned his first career save.

Mizzou scored its most runs in an SEC game this year and most in a league game during the Steve Bieser era. It was the most runs scored by Mizzou in an SEC game since May 2, 2015, when the Tigers hung 18 on Ole Miss. The 14 runs match the most ever by a Mizzou team in a road SEC contest. Mizzou also scored 14 at Tennessee on March 23, 2013, its first season in the league.

TURNING POINT

Saturday’s game was wild as Mizzou opened a 9-2 lead before Kentucky took advantage of six hits, two walks and a big error to plate six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut the lead to 9-8. Kentucky could have had more in the inning, but Mizzou reliever Andy Toelken pitched out of the jam to preserve the lead.

Clinging to a one-run lead with momentum clearly swinging towards the nationally-ranked Wildcats, senior 3B Alex Samples led off the eighth inning with a double, kick-starting a five-run frame that put the game out of reach. Junior SS Paul Gomez delivered a big two-run single with one out and senior Trey Harris delivered the big blow, a three-run homer off the scoreboard in left center, his eighth of the year.

Bryce Montes De Oca locked things down from there, allowing just one hit and one walk over the final 1.1 innings to complete the win. Mizzou hit a season-high four homers in the win, its most since April 15, 2017, also against Kentucky.

QUOTING MIZZOU

Head Coach Steve Bieser

“Wild is a good way to explain it. I thought the resiliency of our offense to keep coming back and keep coming back, they made it really hard on Kentucky’s pitchers. They did a good job of sticking to their approach. That’s something we challenged them to do after last night and I think they took that to heart. We have to come back tomorrow and have the same approach. We have a big opportunitytomorrow to go out and win a series.”

TOP TIGERS

  • Junior 1B Brian Sharp hit his fourth homer of the year in the third inning, his first since March 4 against Maryland-Baltimore County. He extended his hitting streak to four games with that homer, a solo shot to right. Sharp tallied his 11th multi-hit game of the season and second in the series Saturday.
  • Freshman CF Cade Bormet extended his hitting streak to seven games with an RBI single in the second inning.
  • Senior 3B Alex Samples posted an RBI in the second inning.
  • Freshman DH Chad McDaniel tallied his seventh multi-hit game of the season and now has six of those in his last 18 games. He is hitting 19-for-51 (.373) over his last 18 games. He had a career-high four hits Saturday.
  • Senior 2B Matt Berler hit his first homer of the season, a three-run shot, in the in fourth inning. It was his first homer since May 23, 2017, in the SEC Tournament opener vs. Texas A&M.
  • Junior OF Zach Hanna hit his fourth homer of the season.
  • Junior SS Paul Gomez tallied the biggest hit of his career with a two-run single in the top of the eighth inning to extend Mizzou’s advantage to 11-8.
  • Senior OF Trey Harris blasted his team-leading eighth homer of the season and drove in three runs while scoring two more.

NOTES

  • With the win, Mizzou cuts Kentucky’s advantage in the all-time series to 8-7.
  • Mizzou improves to 9-6 on Saturdays this season.
  • Mizzou is now 17-13 in three-game series this season.
  • Mizzou is now 9-8 against ranked teams this season with six of the wins coming on the road.
  • Mizzou is now 7-8 in day games this season.
  • Mizzou hit a season-high four homers Saturday. Mizzou had just three homers in its previous nine games combined and just five in 19 SEC games before Saturday. The four homers for Mizzou are its most since April 15, 2017, also against Kentucky.
  • Mizzou is now 4-0 when hitting multiple homers this season.
  • Mizzou scored more than 10 runs for the eighth time this season and first time since April 4 against SIU-Edwardsville. It was the second time in 20 SEC games that Mizzou hung 10 or more runs and the first time since May 17 at LSU.
  • Mizzou’s 14 runs are its most in an SEC game since May 2, 2015, when it scored 18 against Ole Miss. It matches the most ever for Mizzou scored in an SEC road game. Mizzou had 14 against Tennessee in Knoxville on May 23, 2013.

UP NEXT

Mizzou and Kentucky will close their series Sunday at noon.

— MWSU Athletics —

Cardinals drop second straight at Pittsburgh

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PITTSBURGH (AP) — Francisco Cervelli homered in the second inning and delivered a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the sixth, helping the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 on Saturday night.

The Pirates scored twice in the sixth, twice in the seventh and once in the eighth while erasing a 2-1 deficit. They also rallied for a 6-5 victory over the Cardinals on Friday night.

St. Louis right-hander Jack Flaherty (0-1) started the sixth inning with back-to-back walks before being lifted for Dominic Leone. Josh Bell hit an RBI single and Cervelli’s fly ball to center scored Starling Marte to give Pittsburgh its first lead of the game.

The Pirates added on against the Cardinals’ bullpen in the seventh. Pinch-hitter David Freese had a sacrifice fly and Corey Dickerson singled in Sean Rodriguez.

Colin Moran scored on Jose Martinez’s error on a Gregory Polanco grounder in the eighth.

Cervelli got Pittsburgh on the board with his fourth homer in the second inning. He hit five all of last year.

Pirates starter Trevor Williams (4-1) pitched six innings of two-run ball. Michael Feliz, George Kontos and Edgar Santana combined for three scoreless innings in relief.

Flaherty was charged with three runs and four hits. The rookie right-hander struck out two and walked four.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: RHP Joe Musgrove (shoulder strain) will make his first rehab start with Class A Bradenton on Tuesday. He’s expected to throw three innings. Musgrove has been on the disabled list since March 30. . 2B Josh Harrison (hand fracture) took infield practice with a modified glove. He’s still expected to be about a month away from returning.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: Luke Weaver (2-1, 4.85 ERA) will start the series finale Sunday. Weaver has given up 10 runs over his last two starts after allowing four total in his first three outings of the season.

Pirates: RHP Nick Kingham is expected to be recalled from the minors for his major league debut. Kingham was 2-1 with a 1.59 ERA in four starts with Triple-A Indianapolis.

—

Griffons run-rule Fort Hays State in series opener 12-1

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HAYS, Kan. – Griffon Baseball (24-21, 16-15) started off its final road MIAA series of the season with a bang, defeating Fort Hays State (13-32, 5-25) 12-2 in a run-rule shortened game.

The Griffons scored in each of the first five innings and didn’t allow a run until the fourth. Missouri Western totaled six extra base hits in the game including three home runs, two by Brooks Day, and Nate Hunter struck out 10 batters. The Griffons had 12 hits in the game with five players collecting two hits.

NOTABLES

  • Day went 2-for-3 with the two home runs, driving in five and scoring three runs. He also walked once and extended his hitting streak to 13 games. He’s had at least two hits in eight of those 13 games.
  • Dusty Stroup also went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored. He had the other home run for the Griffons.
  • Casey Danley went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI
  • Fahd Shakeel was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI
  • Hunter (8-2) struck out a season high 10 batters in seven innings. He allowed just the one run on seven hits

UP NEXT
Game two of the three-game series is set for a 5 p.m. first pitch on Saturday.

— MWSU Athletics —

Bearcats outscore Southwest Baptist 19-15 to win first game of series

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The Northwest Missouri State baseball team defeated Southwest Baptist Friday in Maryville 19-15.

The Bearcats are now 27-18 overall and 22-9 in conference while SBU falls to 16-29 overall and 10-21 in conference play.

Key Northwest Statistics
– Northwest scored tow runs in the first, eight in the fourth, two in the fifth, three in the sixth and seventh innings and one in the eighth inning. SBU scored two in the second and third innings, four in the fifth, three in the seventh and four in the ninth inning.
– The Bearcats had 19 runs on 17 hits with four errors. Southwest Baptist had 15 runs on 17 hits and one error.
– Mondesi Gutierrez finished 4-for-5 with four RBIs, three runs scored, two doubles and one homerun.
– Luke Hassman went 4-for-5 with three runs scored, one RBI, a double and a triple.
– Hudson Bilodeau was 3-for-6 with two RBIs, one run scored and one homerun.
– Aaron Barratt went 2-for-5 with five RBIs, two runs scored and a homerun.
– Landon Figg was 1-for-5 with a walk, two runs scored and two RBIs.
– Kevin Handzlik finished 1-for-4 scoring three times, walked twice and had an RBI.
– Matt Schingel finished 1-for-2 he drew two walks, scored three times and hit his first collegiate homerun.
– Derek Hussey went 1-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and three RBIs.

Key Northwest Innings
– Bilodeau got the Cats going in the first inning with a solo homerun to right field and Gutierrez followed it up with his own homerun to left field to put the Cats up 2-0.

– In the bottom of the fourth, Figg led off with a walk, Hassman singled through the left side and Handzlik drew a walk to load the bases. Barratt would bring them all in when he sent a grand slam over the left center fence to give the Bearcats the lead. Schingel followed him up with a solo shot to center field to increase the lead. Hussey would then draw a walk and move to second on a sacrifice bunt by Rycraft. With two outs, Gutierrez hit a double to left center to score Hussey and Gutierrez would then come around to score on a homerun to right center by Figg.

– After an out, Schingel and Hussey drew back-to-back walks and after another out Bilodeau singled to the shortstop to load the bases. Gutierrez singled to center field to score Schingel and Hussey to make the score 12-8.

– To start the sixth inning, Hassman doubled to center and then came in to score on another double by Handzlik down the right field line. Barratt brought in Handzlik with a single to left field and then would move to second on a sacrifice bunt. After another out, Rycraft was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a single by Bilodeau and Barratt was able to score.

– Hassman led off the seventh inning with a single through the left side and moved to second on a walk by Handzlik. Both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Barratt and Schingel loaded the bases after he drew a walk. Hussey doubled down the left field line to score all three runners and make the score 18-11.

– In the bottom of the eighth, Gutierrez led off with a double to left center and advanced to third on a fly ball. Hassman reached on an error by the infield and Gutierrez was able to score.

Up Next
– Northwest will take on Southwest Baptist on Saturday April 28, at 2 p.m. in Maryville, Mo.

— MWSU Athletics —

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