FHSU Athletics
JOPLIN, Mo. – Fort Hays State fell in both games of an MIAA doubleheader at Missouri Southern on Friday. After the Lions won game one 5-2, the Tigers rallied late to tie game two 3-3, only to see the Lions win in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the seventh. The Tigers moved to 16-14 overall, 2-6 in the MIAA, while the Lions moved to 27-10 overall, 7-3 in the MIAA.
Game 1: Missouri Southern 5, Fort Hays State 2
The Lions methodically worked their way to three-run victory in the first contest of the day. MSSU initially took the lead with a run in the first, but the Tigers got the run back in the top of the second to tie the game. From that point, the Lions worked their way to a 5-1 lead with a run in their half of the second, a pair in the third, and one more in the fifth. The Tigers scored their final run on a two-out RBI single in the seventh.
Loren Beggs set up the first Tiger run in the second with a single to leadoff the inning. She moved to second and third on a pair of groundouts, then scored on a wild pitch. Lilliana Ramirez-Johnson drew a walk to leadoff the seventh. Adysen Burghart pinch ran and eventually came in to score on a Regan Curry RBI single. Peyton Shepard led the Tigers with two of the team's five hits in the game.
Savannah Egger threw a complete game, surrendering eight hits and four walks over 6.0 innings. She struck out five and four of her five runs allowed were earned. Egger is now 9-6 on the season.
Kiki Pickens threw a complete game for the Lions, recording six strikeouts with just five hits and two walks allowed. She moved to 8-5 on the season. MSSU had four RBIs in the game all from different players.
Game 2: Missouri Southern 4, Fort Hays State 3
Fort Hays State took the initial lead in game two with a run in the second inning. However, the Lions immediately evened the score with a run in the bottom half of the inning and then took the lead with single runs in the fourth and fifth inning. FHSU pulled back even with MSSU with a two-run rally in the sixth. The Tigers missed out on a golden opportunity with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh, then saw the Lions benefit from an error to open the bottom half of the inning and win on a walk-off single.
A Loren Beggs walk to open the second eventually led to an Alondra Domingeuz RBI single to put the Tigers on top early. The Lions evened the score with a two-out RBI single in the second then took the lead on a solo home run to leadoff the fourth. Another two-out RBI single made it 3-1 Lions through five innings.
Carly Stuke opened the sixth with a triple and Lilliana Ramirez-Johnson followed with a sacrifice fly RBI. Dominguez kept the Tigers alive in the inning with a single and Madison Pierce followed with a clutch RBI double to tie the game. An Audrey Gillisepie single and Sarah Tiffany double gave the Tigers runners at second and third with one out in the seventh and Stuke followed with a walk to load the bases. However, a ground ball fielder's choice to cut down the lead runner and a strikeout ended the Tiger threat.
A dropped fly ball to open the seventh put a runner immediately in scoring position for the Lions and they capitalized with an RBI single to end the game.
Kiki Pickens picked up her second win of the day, getting the Lions out of the jam in the top of the seventh in 2/3 innings of work. Morgan Schmidt threw a complete game for the Tigers and took the loss, allowing 10 hits over 6 innings. She struck out five. Dominguez had a 3-for-3 game at the plate, leading a Tiger squad with seven hits in the game.
UP NEXT
Fort Hays State returns to action on Saturday at Pittsburg State University. The MIAA doubleheader between the teams is set to start at 1 p.m.