JOPLIN, Mo. – Missouri Southern senior lefty Zach Parish became the NCAA Division II all-time strikeout king as the Lions split a double-header with Rogers State, winning 12-6 in the opener, but dropping the nightcap 7-2 at Warren Turner Field.
Parish struck out eight in five innings, moving his all-time strikeout total to 479 and setting a new Division II record in the process. Parish breaks the previous record that was set by Danny Lampley of Wingate from 1995-98. Parish also set his record in 23 fewer innings than Lampley did.
Parish allowed one unearned run and scattered three hits in moving to 10-1 on the season.
The Lions (28-11, 21-11 MIAA) scored 11 runs in the first inning, nearly batting around twice and held on for the win. Henry Kusiak drove in five runs, while Troy Gagan went 3-for-3 in the game. Brad Willis and Jordan Fitzpatrick had a pair of RBIs, while Clay Milas, Tommy Stevenson, Dexter Swims and Troy Gagan had an RBI each. Gagan scored three runs, while Fitzpatrick, Stevenson and Kusiak had two runs each.
Cale McCallister, Corey Cowan and Jeremiah Kennedy threw in relief.
Fitzpatrick led off the first with a homer, and the Lions loaded the bases behind him with Kusiak driving in two and Swims another to make the score 4-0. An RBI double from Willis drove in two, while Fitzpatrick added another RBI to push the score to 7-0. A double from Gagan scored Fitzpatrick before Kusiak capped the inning with a three-run bomb to left field.
RSU (18-19, 14-18 MIAA) added four runs before the Lions got a sacrifice fly from Milas in the seventh to make the score 12-4. The Hillcats added two more in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough.
Game two saw the game tied at two apiece before RSU scored five runs in the eighth to seal the win.
After the Hillcats led 2-0 going to the bottom of the second, Willis drove in Kinder to cut the lead in half. Fitzpatrick added an RBI single in the fourth to tie the game, but the five-run 8th for the Hillcats proved to be too much.
Will Bausinger started and went one and two thirds of an inning. Ryan Paschal threw six innings of one-hit ball, but took the hard-luck loss to move to 1-1 on the season. Scott Duensing, Cole Woods and Elijah Richeson threw in relief.
Fitzpatrick and Willis had an RBI, while Willis had a pair of hits.
