Lions roll past Miners, climb into top 10 of national rankings
Mar. 22—With a five-run outburst in the third inning, Missouri Southern gave Steen Lane some cushion for his two-hit, one-run, six-inning performance on its way to a 14-5 victory on Wednesday afternoon in Rolla.
Lane picked up the win, his second of the season, with six strikeouts and three walks. The sophomore righty also hit a batter.
The Lions (20-7, 10-3 MIAA) didn't hit any home runs but four of their seven hits were doubles. They had 10 more baserunners via base-on-balls. The Miners finished with six hits and six walks.
MSSU began its scoring when Henry Kusiak was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, bringing Chayton Beck across the plate. After back-to-back fielder's choices scored a run each — one of which was an error — Ethan Clark doubled to drive in Matt Miller and Kusiak to make it 5-0.
Left-handed hitting Miller doubled in the fifth to drive in a run and make it 7-1. Beck pulled a pitch into left field in the seventh inning to score Tyler Ferguson and Miller to stretch the lead to 10-1. The Lions finished the game's scoring when Kusiak hit a ball into the left-center field gap and legged out a double to drive in Garrett Rice and make it 14-5.
Nate Mieszkowski was MSSU's only batter to finish with two hits. He also had two RBIs, one run scored and drew a walk. Miller, Kusiak, Clark and Beck all joined Mieszkowski with two RBIs of their own. Rice and Miller led the team with three runs scored each. Miller, Rice and Ferguson had two walks apiece, accounting for six of the team's 10.
Redshirt freshman Kaydon Patrick finished the game off for the Lions with one inning of work, two strikeouts and just one hit and one walk. This was Patrick's fourth appearance this year for MSSU after redshirting at Division I Central Arkansas last year.
Starter Kyle Athmer picked up the loss for Missouri S&T (9-11) after going 2 1/3 innings and allowing three runs — all earned — on zero hits, three walks and a hit batter. Athmer was pulled after walking three-consecutive batters in the third inning.
RANKING UPDATEMSSU moved up from 11th in the Week 5 polls released by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association to 7th in the Week 6 polls released on Wednesday.
The Lions are 11-3 since beginning MIAA conference play on Feb. 24. They've won each conference series as well. Southern has dropped one game with Pittsburg State, Northwest Missouri State and Washburn while sweeping Central Oklahoma. UCO was ranked fifth at the time.
The Lions are the only MIAA team that is currently ranked by the NCBWA. The Mules of Central Missouri (18-7) are at the top of teams receiving votes to be ranked.
