FHSU Athletics
HAYS, Kan. – The Fort Hays State baseball team kicked off Pack the Park weekend with a 15-9 win over Northwest Missouri State on Friday at Larks Park. Every Tiger batter collected a hit in the win with six hitters registering multi-hit games. FHSU improved to 19-26 overall and 9-19 in the MIAA while NWMSU fell to 10-31 overall and 8-20 in the conference.
The Bearcats took an early 3-0 lead in the opening frame with a pair of home runs. The Tigers answered in the home half as Ed Scott reached on a leadoff single before Emile Boies drove him home with a double to the right center gap. An RBI single from Trey DeGarmo plated Boies later in the inning to cut the Bearcat lead to one, 3-2. Tiger starter Zach Berg retired the side in the second before the Tigers scored four more runs in the bottom of the inning. A single, a walk, and a bunt single loaded the bases for FHSU before Scott beat the throw on an attempted double play allowing the first run to score. Isaiah Ural singled up the middle in the next at-bat to bring home Mikey Felton before Boies plated two more runs on an RBI single putting FHSU up 6-3.
Berg kept the Bearcats off the board once again in the third, but another pair of home runs in the fourth tied the game, 6-6. Daniel Bebee came in to record the final out of the inning and held the Bearcats scoreless in the fifth. The Tigers took the lead for good in the bottom of the frame scoring seven runs on eight hits. Boies led off the inning with a single before Elliott Herrmann launched a ball deep over the right field wall. A single by DeGarmo followed by a ground-rule double by Zach Davis put a pair of runners on base setting up a three-run bomb from Colter Maldonado over the left field wall pushing the Tigers ahead 11-6. Scott kept the momentum rolling in the next at-bat with a solo shot to the same spot for the Tigers third home run of the inning. Ural and Boies wrapped up the scoring in the frame with back-to-back doubles putting the Tigers up 13-6.
The Bearcats manufactured a pair of runs in the sixth, but it didn't last as the Tigers plated a pair of runs in the seventh. Scott led off with a double before Ural reached on a walk. Boies drove home Scott with an RBI double before Herrmann flied out to deep center allowing Ural to cross the plate putting the Tigers up 15-8. The Bearcats were able to plate a run in the eighth, but Bebee slammed the door retiring the final five batters he faced to secure the win.
Boies finished a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate with five RBI and two runs scored and Scott went 3-for-5 batting in two runs and crossing the plate four times. Berg went 3.2 frames in the start allowing six runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out a pair of batters. Bebee (5-2) allowed three runs on five hits and three walks in 5.1 innings of work with two strikeouts.
The series will resume tomorrow at 1 p.m.