JOPLIN, Mo. — Missouri Southern junior lefty Zach Parish set the MSSU single-season strikeout record, but the No. 21 ranked Lions fell 4-1 tonight to Pittsburg State at Warren Turner Field.
The Lions (29-15, 20-8 MIAA) had single hits from Mike Million, Freddie Landers, Alex Phillips, Ryan Hunter, Denver Coffee, Jon Leighton and Matt Miller. Phillips drove in the lone run, while Million scored.
Zach Parish started and went six and two thirds of an inning, striking out seven and allowing just two earned runs to pick up the hard-luck loss and move to 7-1 on the season. The seven strikeouts give Parish 120 k’s on the season, breaking the previous record of 116 set by Brett Abel in 2013. River Wright and Brennon Covington threw in relief, striking out two batters each.
Pitt (24-18, 16-12 MIAA) got a win from Alex Achtermann to move his record to 5-5 on the year, while Tanner Lane picked up save number nine on the year.
The Gorillas picked up a pair of runs in the second inning, but the Lions answered back with a run in the third to cut the lead to one (2-1) after an RBI from Phillips, scoring Million.
Pitt added two more runs in the seventh to put the game away.
