Southern downs UCO in MIAA tournament opener

Jared Porter, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·4 min read

May 15—Senior Ryan Hunter had a feeling he was due to make a big contribution at the plate before the start of Missouri Southern's MIAA postseason tournament opener on Friday.

"I felt good in (batting practice) earlier," the Lions' right fielder said. "I was seeing the ball well, staying middle and staying in my legs, which I've been working on. So I thought it was going to be a good day, and that ended up translating to the game."

Hunter's premonition proved true in the bottom of the second inning when the 6-foot, 185-pound lefty hitter belted a solo home run out to left field to give the 3-seeded Lions their first lead of the day, 2-1, over 6-seed Central Oklahoma.

Southern never trailed the rest of the way and staved off the Bronchos late to claim a 5-3 win in the first game of their best-of-three series at Warren Turner Field.

"It's always nice to win the first one," Hunter said. "We can relax and breathe a little tonight, but we know we have to come out ready to battle again tomorrow."

"These are hard games," MSSU head coach Bryce Darnell said. "Today it was our No. 1 (pitcher) going against their No. 1. We had a a few big hits to help extend the lead today ... . So it's a good win. We competed hard and we're happy."

MSSU (30-11), tallying 11 hits in the game, had its most productive offensive showing in the bottom of the seventh as it plated three runs on five hits to push its advantage to 5-1.

An RBI single by catcher Tommy Stevenson, named the MIAA Freshman of the Year earlier in the week, opened the scoring in the frame before second baseman Dexter Swims drove a two-RBI single to center field for the four-run lead.

Swims, a sophomore second baseman out of St. Louis, also had a defensive highlight in the top of the fourth when he made a diving stop on a grounder up the middle and made a throwout at first from his knees to end the inning.

The Bronchos (22-19) made a charge at Southern in the bottom of the eighth as they plated two runs that were charged against reliever Ryan Paschal. Closer Logan VanWey then came on to limit the damage, allowing one double before retiring three straight batters to work out of the jam.

VanWey surrendered no earned runs and one hit while striking out three in the final two innings. The effort enabled him to pick up his third save of the season.

"He has another gear with his velocity that we can get strikeouts, which is important at the end of the game," Darnell said of VanWey. "So he pitched well."

Starter Zach Parish (11-1), the MIAA Pitcher of the Year, was credited the win after surrendering two earned runs and six hits in six innings of work. The all-time NCAA Division II strikeout leader fanned nine in the game.

Parish had to overcome some early-game adversity after a pair of MSSU fielding errors in the first inning enabled UCO to jump out to a 1-0 lead.

"With Parish, it's amazing how he can be so effective even when he doesn't have his best stuff," Darnell said. "Today was one of those days. They got one unearned run off of him. It's just typical Parish."

Parish also had the backing of the Southern bats early on. Following UCO's unearned run in the top of the first, the Lions responded in the bottom half with a run of its own on a two-out RBI single through the left side by Clay Milas.

Then came Hunter's opposite-field homer in the second, which marked the Maumelle, Ark., native's third long ball of the season.

"I guess you could say I like hitting opposite field," Hunter said, laughing. "I have three home runs this year, and two have been oppo. But it felt good, and I'm glad we could pull this one out."

Central's Kyle Crowl finished 2 for 5 at the plate with one double and one run scored, while Shane Nixon finished 1 for 3 with a double and an RBI.

Bronchos starter Luke Anderson suffered the loss after surrendering two earned runs and six hits while striking out five in six innings of work. Reliever Kyler Patterson surrendered three earned runs in 1/3 of an inning, and closer Beaux Bonvillain held MSSU scoreless in 1 1/3.

MSSU and UCO continue their series with a game at 3 p.m. Saturday. A win for the Lions would clinch a series win and advance them to the tournament semifinals, while a UCO win would force a Game 3 on Sunday.

Contact Jared Porter on Twitter at @JaredRyanPorter.