HAYS, Kan. – The 9th-ranked Missouri Southern baseball team scored big and often as the Lions took out Fort Hays State inside Larks Park, 12-2 in seven innings tonight.
The Lions (16-3, 10-3 MIAA) got a strong start from Zach Parish as the lefty went five innings, striking out eight and allowing just one hit and a run to move his record to 6-0 on the season. Ryan Paschal threw an inning with a strikeout, while Elijah Richeson and Scott Deunsing combined to finish the seventh.
Jordan Fitzpatrick went 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs and a double, while Tommy Stevenson drove in five and scored once connecting on a grand slam. Troy Gagan was 2-for-3 with a pair of runs and an RBI, while Henry Kusiak and Dexter Swims had a pair of hits each. Kusiak drove in two and scored once, while Joe Kinder and Mat Miller scored two runs each. Grant Harris had a run scored.
FHSU (2-15, 2-11 MIAA) had a hit each from Jacob Bouzide and Garrett Stephens.
Southern got on the board first as Fitzpatrick hit a two-RBI double to center to score Kinder and Harris in the third. Gagan followed up with an RBI double scoring Fitzpatrick and Kusiak singled home Gagan to give the Lions a 4-1 lead after three.
Stevenson hit a grand slam in the fifth to make it 8-0, before Clay Milas drove in Kinder with a sacrifice fly to make it 9-1 after five.
Fitzpatrick drove in Miller for the first run in the sixth, while Stevenson picked up an RBI on a hit by pitch and Kusiak drove in Fitzpatrick to give the Lions a 12-0 lead after six.
The Tigers scored a run in the seventh, but Duensing closed it out to give the Lions the win.
The two teams will be back at it tomorrow afternoon with a double-header beginning at noon.
