FHSU Sports Information Department
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Fort Hays State baseball defeated Lincoln on Thursday (Mar. 24) by the score of 11-1 in a seven inning run-rule victory. Freshman Logan Herd threw his first complete game in college to give FHSU back-to-back complete games by starters after D.J. Carr’s complete game Tuesday against Washburn. With the win the Tigers are now 11-14 overall, 5-9 in the MIAA, while Lincoln drops to 1-23 overall and 0-14 in the conference.
The Tigers got on the board early and remained in the lead the rest of the way. With two outs in the top of the first, Alex Weiss singled in Austin Unrein making the score 1-0. The Tigers made it a 2-0 in the third by playing small ball. Ty Redington was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and swiped second to move into scoring position. A sacrifice bunt and a groundout RBI from Unrein plated the run.
In the fourth, the Tigers made it a five-run game thanks to the long ball. A solo shot from Connor Ross made the game 3-0 and then a two-run home run from Trevor Hughes gave the Tigers the 5-0 lead.
After getting another run in the fifth, the Tigers plated five more runs in the sixth extending their lead to double digits. Once again Redington led off the inning, this time with a single and he stole second. With two outs, Weiss singled up the middle and Redington scored. A walk in the following at bat to Joe Mapes chased Lincoln starter Zach Maskill from the game. The next batter, Ross, was hit by a pitch to load the bases, then Alex King plated two runs with a double making the game 9-0. Hughes then delivered once more with a two-RBI single and the Tigers led 11-0 after six.
Trailing in the bottom of the seventh, Lincoln managed to load the bases with no outs, but only manufactured one run as Herd was able to limit the damage and claim the victory for the Tigers. Herd improved to 2-2 on the season with the win. For the day, he allowed just one run on seven hits with seven strikeouts and three walks.
The Tigers and Blue Tigers are back at it again on Friday (Mar. 25) for game two of the series, which is scheduled to take place at 3 pm.