JOPLIN, Mo. – Washburn baseball dropped its non-conference midweek contest at No. 17 Missouri Southern on Tuesday afternoon, 17-7. The Ichabods will play their final home series of the regular season this weekend hosting Rogers State. The start time for the series opener on Friday has been bumped up to 3 p.m.
Washburn (24-18) started the game with back-to-back singles to left field from
Andrew Schmidtlein and
Cale Savage. A groundout moved both runners into scoring position with two outs. The first run made it home on a wild pitch and
Trey Adams hit a full count RBI triple to make it 2-0.
In the home half of the first, the Lions (34-10) went ahead 3-2 after a pair of home runs.
The Ichabods benefited from free passes in the second frame.
Shane Morrow drew a leadoff walk and with two outs, Savage worked a six-pitch walk.
Cal Watkins leveled the score with a single to right center and
Ike Book was hit by the first pitch of his at bat to load the bases. Missouri Southern changed pitchers, but Washburn continued to show its patience at the plate and Adams drew a walk to bring in a run.
Easton Bruce followed that up with a full count bases loaded walk to put Washburn up, 5-3.
The Lions reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the second with seven runs, thanks to two home runs and a two-RBI double. MSSU extended its lead to 11-5 with a leadoff home run in the third.
Savage got things going in the top of the fourth with a single and moved up to second on a single from Book. Adams knocked in the run with the third single of the frame to make it 11-6.
Washburn would get no closer, though, as Missouri Southern scored in the fourth through sixth innings to extend the lead to 17-6.
In the top of the seventh,
Easton Bruce singled up the middle and advanced to second on a passed ball.
Andrew Paulsey was issued a walk and on ball four, it also got away from the catcher to allow Bruce to go up to third.
Kuyper Kendall stepped up to the plate as a pinch hitter and drove in the final run of the game with a fielder's choice.
The Lions finished with a 15-9 advantage in the hit column, with 11 of those hits going for extra bases on the breezy afternoon. Adams went 2-3 with a walk and collected three RBI. Savage was also 2-3 with a walk and scored three runs. Bruce had one hit, one RBI, one run scored, and one walk.
