FHSU Athletics
HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State picked up a big sweep in its doubleheader with Central Missouri on Friday. A 5-3 win in game one ended a long 11-game losing streak to the Jennies dating back to 2016, then the Tigers completed the sweep with a 5-1 win in game two. Fort Hays State gained ground in the MIAA standings, now at 6-10 in conference play and 20-23-1 overall, while UCM moved to 6-14 in the MIAA and 13-30 overall.
Game 1: Fort Hays State 5, Central Missouri 3
Central Missouri was the first to lead in game one, scoring a run in the top of the third on its first hit of the game, an RBI double by Peyton Corrigan. But, their half of the inning ended with a batter called out of the box on what would have been another RBI. The Tigers responded immediately in the bottom of the third when Madison Pierce hit a clutch two-out, two-RBI single to push the Tigers in front 2-1.
FHSU added on to their lead in the fifth when Sara Breckbill walked with the bases loaded to force in a run. But, a leadoff walk and then a pair of RBI doubles for Central Missouri tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the sixth.
The Tigers got their two-run lead back in the bottom half of the sixth, triggered by a leadoff walk from Adysen Burghart. After a sacrifice bunt from Jessica Espinoza, Kiana Blake knocked in Burghart with an RBI single. Loren Beggs singled to push Blake into scoring position and then Sarah Tiffany had an RBI single to score Blake.
After relieving for starter Morgan Schmidt in the sixth, Bailey Carlson made the Tiger lead hold up in the seventh. Carlson pitched 2.0 innings to pick up the win, allowing two hits and a walk with one strikeout. Schmidt threw the first 5.0 innings of the game and held the Jennies to just two hits with three strikeouts. All three runs by the Jennies were her responsibility.
Kyleigh Lay threw the first 4.2 innings for the Jennies and surrendered three runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks. She accounted for all five strikeouts by UCM pitching. Kaylee Diggs relieved for 0.2 innings and was responsible for the go-ahead runs by the Tigers in the sixth, taking the loss. Sadie Parks threw the final 0.2 innings for UCM.
Game 2: Fort Hays State 5, Central Missouri 1
Just like game one, Central Missouri took the lead first with a run in the first inning, but the Tigers tied the game in the second and took the lead in the fourth on their way to a doubleheader sweep.
The Jennies had three singles in the first inning, which accounted for half of their hits in the game. But, Savanah Egger settled in from that point in the circle, allowing just three hits over the final six innings for a complete-game win. She struck out five in her winning effort.
Aggressive baserunning by the Tigers led to their first run in the second inning. On a grounder back to the pitcher, Sarah Tiffany delayed going to third base from second. The UCM first baseman made a wild throw back across the diamond and Sarah Tiffany popped up off the third-base bag and came in to score the tying run.
In the fourth inning, Regan Curry doubled to left-center field with two outs and Tiffany motored all the way around from first to score the go-ahead run. The Tigers added on in the fifth with three more runs, thanks to a rocket shot off the wall in the right field corner by Jessica Espinoza which turned out to be a 2-RBI triple. Kiana Blake then had a nice piece of hitting by grounding the ball into the gap between first and second base, allowing Espinoza to score easily on her groundout. That capped the scoring for the game.
UCM starter Gentry Wishard took the loss, allowing four runs (three earned) in 4.0 innings of work. She struck out three. Sadie Parks and Kyleigh Lay made relief appearances.
The Tigers will be back in action on Saturday at Tiger Stadium when they play host to Lincoln University at 12 pm.