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Mules drop three of four to Hornets

Mitch Stubenhofer was the winning pitcher in the Mules lone victory of the series

The 16th ranked Central Missouri Mules baseball squad took the opening game of a weekend MIAA series with No. 5 Emporia State, but the Hornets took the final three contests to keep possession of first-place.

UCM grabbed a 7-3 Friday night win at the hands of junior righty Mitch Stubenhofer. He left the game with a 4-3 lead in the sixth, and Nick Phillips came in for 1.1 innings of relief. Chris Matlock extended his scoreless inning streak to 39 to get the save in the final two frames.

The offense was paced by 13 Mule hits as five players had multiple ones on the day. Stewart Hoover had two RBI, including one to give UCM the lead in the fifth. An RBI double by Will Feil in the seventh gave UCM some insurance, before an error by the Hornets allowed two more UCM runs in the eighth.

The first game on Saturday was a pitcher’s duel with Brooks Martin, and ESU’s Ryan Anthony. Both tossed a complete game, giving up only three hits in the 2-1 ESU win. A close call at first that looked as if the Mules had turned an inning-ending double play was called safe at first, giving ESU a 1-0 lead. The second ESU run came in the next frame thanks to an error. The Mules got a two-out solo homer by Steffon Williams in the bottom of the seventh in the seven frame contest, but UCM fell short.

The second game of the doubleheader also turned out to be a pitching contest with Danny Potje tossing 5.1 innings, allowing only two runs, and Colby Killian threw six innings, allowing a couple. The game went into extra innings tied at 2-2 after the Mules failed to convert with two runners on and only one out in the bottom of the seventh.

Matlock’s scoreless inning streak was snapped at 40.2 in the top of the eighth, giving up four runs on four hits. UCM couldn’t mount a comeback in the bottom half though, loading the bases with one out. The Hornets struck out both Mule hitters to end the threat and win 6-2.

On Sunday, Mark Carey got the start, and was solid through four frames, but the Hornets tagged him for five runs to take a 6-1 lead in the fifth. Central Missouri failed to get anything going until the final inning when it scored four runs to make it 7-5. The Mules had their chance though, with men on second and third with two outs, but a drive to right center by Will Feil held up in the wind and center fielder Conner Crumbliss got under it for the final out.