Bryce Darnell recorded win No. 400 as Missouri Southern’s head baseball coach on Saturday as the No. 20 Lions swept a double-header form Northwest Missouri. The Lions won the opener 6-2 and 11-4 in the nightcap.
The Lions (26-10, 19-10 MIAA) got wins No. 400 and 401 for Darnell in his career. Darnell is eighth on the MIAA baseball coaching win list, sitting 18 wins from 7th place and former Central Missouri coach Brad Hill.
Congrats to Coach Darnell for reaching win #400 today! pic.twitter.com/WaypT692UU
— Southern Baseball (@MSSUBaseball) May 2, 2021
Southern got a pair of outstanding starts from is pitchers as Zach Parish got things started in game one. Parish went six innings, striking out 11 and allowing just one run and four hits to move to 9-1 on the season. Scott Duensing struck out a batter in an inning of relief, while Cole Woods struck out three over the final two innings.
Joe Kinder went 3-for-4 in the game, while Jordan Fitzpatrick was 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Henry Kusiak and Dexter Swims had two hits each, while Kusiak drive on a run and scored once and Swims scored a run. Tommy Stevenson and Clay Milas scored a run each.
Fitzpatrick got the scoring started as he led off the game with a home run. The Bearcats (13-22, 11-19 MIAA) answered with a home run in the second, before the Lions scored two in the fifth. Kinder started the scoring with his 12th home run of the year, while Fitzpatrick added a two-RBI single. Kusiak added a two-run homer in the eighth and Northwest scored once in the bottom half of the inning before Woods shut it down.
Game two saw Will Bausinger start and go six innings, striking out seven and allowing just two runs to move to 6-2 on the season. Ryan Paschal threw two innings, while Cale McCallister and Jeremiah Kennedy combined to throw the ninth.
Fitzpatrick again got the Lions on board first wit a two-run homer in the third. Kinder singled home Kusiak in the inning to put Southern up 3-0 after three.
Swims added a two-run homer in the sixth before the Lions added a run on a balk and another on a sacrifice fly from Stevenson.
The Bearcats added two runs in their half of the sixth to cut the lead to five (7-2), but the Lions added a two-run double from Swims in the seventh to go back up 9-2.
Northwest scored a pair in the seventh to get within five, but the Lions added a Stevenson homer in the eighth and an RBI double from Fitzpatrick in the ninth to put the game away.
Swims had four RBIs, while Fitzpatrick had three. Stevenson drove in a pair and Kinder added an RBI of his own. Fitzpatrick, Milas and Kaleb Baker all scored twice.
The teams will conclude the series tomorrow with a single nine-inning game at 1 p.m.
