By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
The Fort Hays State baseball team could not tame the bats of second-ranked Central Missouri Thursday (March 12), dropping both ends of the doubleheader. The Mules took advantage of the stiff wind blowing out at Larks Park, slugging 13 home runs on the day, including an MIAA-record-tying nine homers in game one.
The Tigers move to 11-13 overall and 1-7 in MIAA play, while the Mules are now 20-3 on the year and 8-0 in league action.
Fort Hays State totaled 19 hits on the day, including home runs from Tyler Olson, Corbin Truslow and two from Garrett Stephens.
Game One: Central Missouri 24, Fort Hays State 9
Central Missouri scored early and scored often in the opener, pushing across at least one run in each inning. Fort Hays State kept the pace early, leading 3-2 after one inning before ending the second with a 6-6 tie.
While UCM was using the long ball to score the majority of its runs, hitting four home runs over the first two frames, the Tigers used timely hitting to manufacture their runs. FHSU scored three runs with two outs in the first inning after Jaxson Webb came through with a bases-loaded single. Tyler Olson followed with a two-RBI base knock to center, plating Garrett Stephens and Corbin Truslow.
The Tigers used four hits, including three doubles, to level the score in the second inning. Griffin Brunson led off with a single before moving to third on a Drake Angeron double. After outs were recorded in the next two at-bats, Grant Schmidt came through with a big base knock. The junior kept the inning alive with a double to center, plating Jared Maneth and Angeron. Stephens followed with a double of his own, driving in Schmidt.
The Tigers added three more runs in the seventh inning when Stephens and Olson both sent solo home runs sailing over the wall in left.
Olson drove in three runs in the game, while Angeron, Stephens, Webb, Olson and Brunson all collected two base hits.
UCM’s Dusty Stroup clubbed four home runs in the win, matching the MIAA record for home runs in a single game for a player.
Game Two: Central Missouri 20, Fort Hays State 4
Central Missouri scored six runs in the first and added four more in the second to take control of game two, winning 20-4. Garrett Stephens picked up his second home run of the day in the home half of the fourth, making the score 11-2.
Corbin Truslow added a two-run bomb in the followin inning, sending a 2-1 pitch soaring over the scoreboard in right to help the Tigers close within 14-4.
Griffin Brunson was the lone Tiger to record multiple hits, tallying two base knocks for the second game in a row. Ryan Stoecklein collected his first hit of the season on a single in the seventh.
Ryan Ruder retired the side in order in the top of the fourth, the only inning of the day in which UCM did not score.
Due to the cancellation of NCAA Winter and Spring Championships based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, the MIAA and its member institutions announced the suspension of all MIAA intercollegiate sports activities (practice and competition) indefinitely effective at 11 pm, March 12, 2020. The indefinite suspension applies to all institutional practices and competitions in any MIAA sport, regardless of season, until further notice. All spring sports are suspended indefinitely at this time.
Further updates will be provided as more information becomes available in the days ahead.