Box Score

Box Score | Season Statistics
 
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Top-seeded and fifth-ranked Missouri Western scored three times in the top of the first inning and rode a strong pitching performance from Ethan Ward to an 11-4 victory over Pittsburg State in the 2013 MIAA Baseball Championships Friday (May 10).
 
The victory sends the Griffons (39-9) to the tournament championship game Saturday (May 11) against Missouri Southern. The Lions defeated Western, 4-3, in the early game Friday. The Gorillas season comes to a close with a 29-24 overall record.
 
Michael Schulze singled to open the game and scored on Bubba Dotson’s double. Nate Ramler and David Chew added sacrifice flies later in the frame to stake Griffons to the early lead.
 
Chew added a three-run homer run off Pitt State starter Cody Wren (4-6) in the third inning.
 
The Griffons also plated three runs in the fifth to build a 9-0 cushion, and Western got on the board with two runs in the eighth to complete it scoring.
 
Grant Fink paced the Griffons’ 14-hit attack, going 4-for-4, while Spencer Shockley went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Schulze finished the game 3-for-6 with two RBI.
 
Ward (4-3) held the Gorillas scoreless until the sixth inning, when Ryan Bilovesky and Brad Foss put together back-to-back one-out hits. Luke Bordewick and Jacob Martin then delivered consecutive run-scoring singles with two outs to plate a pair of runs.
 
Pitt State struck for two more runs in the seventh as Foss and Cody Ball had back-to-back run-scoring hits that drove in Ethan Thomas and Bilovesky. Thomas drew a two-out walk to start the rally and Bilovesky followed with a base hit to left field.
 
Foss finished the game 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Bilovesky went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Bordewick also collected a pair of hits.