JOPLIN, Mo. — Trailing 9-0 at one point, the No. 11 ranked Missouri Southern baseball team got two hitless innings of relief from Joey Reeves and a walk-off home run from Matt Miller as the Lions completed the amazing comeback, defeating No. 21 Central Missouri 17-16 today at Warren Turner Field.
The Lions (24-9, 15-5 MIAA) got a big day at the plate from Dexter Swims as the freshman went 3-for-4 with two runs and six RBIs as he had a home run and a double in the game. Matt Miller went 3-for-4 with a home run, three RBIs and three runs scored, while Freddie Landers had a home run of his own, driving in two and scoring a run. Troy Gagan had three runs scored, while Mike Million scored twice in the game. Jon Leighton went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored, while Alex Phillips had a run and an RBI. Ryan Hunter was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Denver Coffee went 2-for-6 but had doubles in his last two at-bats, keying the comeback for the Lions.
Zac Shoemaker started and didn’t have his best stuff, lasting just an inning and two thirds, allowing only one earned run, but errors allowed six to cross the plate in the second inning. Austin DesRoche, River Wright, Brennon Covington, Cole Woods, Logan VanWey, Cole Gacke and Joey Reeves all threw in relief. Reeves shined with two hitless innings, striking out three and walking just one to move to 1-0 on the season.
The Mules (21-11, 13-7 MIAA) got five RBIs and a grand slam from Alex Madera, while Harrison Schnurbusch drove in three and scored twice.
Central led 9-0 after two and a half innings, before Swims’ home run in the bottom of the third put the Lions on the board. Swims added a bases-clearing double in the fourth to score Leighton, Miller and Gagan, before Landers homered to deep center to cut the lead to four (9-5) after four innings.
Schnurbusch added a three-run home run for the Mules in the fifth, before the Lions added three runs of their own in the fifth on a two-RBI double from Leighton and an RBI double from Hunter.
Central scored three more runs in the sixth, but the Lions answered with two of their own to make the score 15-11 going into the seventh. The Mules added one more run in the seventh to lead 16-11 before Reeves and the Lions went to work.
Leighton had an RBI in the eighth, beating out a double-play to score Gagan and Swims singled through the left side to score Hunter and Leighton to make the score 16-14 heading to the ninth. Coffee doubled to lead off the inning and Million walked behind him. Gagan sacrificed the runners to second and third and Miller took an 0-1 pitch to left center to complete the comeback.
The game featured 16 pitchers between the two teams, 33 total runs and five home runs.
