By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
Fort Hays State fell in the series finale to Missouri Southern by a score of 7-0 on Sunday (April 3). Missouri Southern swept the three-game series on its home field.
The Tigers compiled six hits, including Mason Holton and Conner Kessler each with a pair. Lion starter Cole Woods threw five scoreless innings and struck out five. MSSU opted to use six relievers following Woods, all throwing an inning or less.
The Lions scored five runs in the first inning before adding another in the second and their final run in the seventh inning.
Jake Campbell threw six complete innings in his start and allowed six runs on nine hits, but did not walk anyone and had two strikeouts. Cole Zimmerman and Jacob Douglas pitched the seventh and eighth innings respectively and each recorded a strikeout. Douglas kept the Lions scoreless in his inning of work.
The Tigers will be back at home on Wednesday (April 6) when they host Washburn in a single non-conference game. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Larks Park.
Saturday
The Fort Hays State baseball team dropped game two of its weekend series against Missouri Southern on Saturday (April 2) by a score of 10-0.
The Tigers collected singles from Ed Scott, Kade Wallace and Ty Campbell in the first, second and fourth innings respectively, but the Tigers were stifled by Lion starter Logan VanWey otherwise. The righty struck out 14 batters over seven innings of work. Campbell also worked a walk in the seventh, ending a stretch of eight straight retired Tiger batters.
Missouri Southern scored five runs in the first inning before adding two in the third, one in the fourth and two in the seventh.
Hunter Parker (0-7) took the loss after allowing seven runs on nine hits and three walks over three innings of work. He struck out one Lion batter. Padraic Walsh finished the job for the Tigers, surrendering three runs on five hits and one walk over 3.2 innings of relief while striking out five MSSU hitters.
Friday
The Fort Hays State baseball team dropped the first game of the weekend against Missouri Southern on Friday (April 1), 4-0.
Zach Berg (0-3) gave the Tigers a solid start, retiring the first nine batters he faced before giving up just one run through the first five innings. But the FHSU bats were unable to solve Lion starter Jacob Davis, picking up just three hits on the day compared to 10 for the Lions. Neither team was charged with an error in the contest.
Missouri Southern manufactured its first run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly before scoring three runs on four hits in the sixth.
The Tigers had their best chance to score when they were trailing 1-0 in the top of the sixth. Trip Pennington led off with a great at-bat, fouling off six pitches before working a 10-pitch walk. Jenner Kehe followed with a single before the pair moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch. But Missouri Southern got out of the jam with a strikeout and two ground ball outs. The Lions went on to retire the final 12 FHSU batters of the game to lock down the victory.
Berg completed 5.2 innings on the mound, allowing four runs on eight hits while striking out three. Mason Holton allowed one hit over 1.1 scoreless innings of relief before Jason Robertson came on to throw the final inning, giving up one hit while striking out one Lion. The Tigers issued zero walks for just the second time this season and had no walks and no hit batters for the first time all year.
Kehe, Mikey Felton and Jaxson Webb all collected one hit on the day. Pennington worked two walks on the day while Kade Wallace picked up one free base on balls.
Davis struck out nine batters and allowed three hits and three walks over 7.0 innings to earn his fifth win of the year.