PITTSBURG -- Missouri Southern State University senior righthander Logan VanWey limited the Pittsburg State University baseball team to four hits over 8.0 innings of work on the mound as he and reliever Scott Duensing combined to blank the Gorillas, 4-0, Friday (May 6) at Al Ortolani Field.

The Lions (29-21) grabbed the upper hand over the Gorillas (29-19) in the best two of three game series in the first round of the 2022 MIAA Baseball Championships. MSSU will advance to the conference tournament semifinals with a win in game two Saturday. Pitt State needs a victory to force a deciding game three Sunday. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.

VanWey (7-3), the MIAA strikeouts leader, fanned 10 Gorillas batters while tossing 131 net pitches (82 strikes). He issued just one walk in the contest.

Jordan Fitzpatrick and Henry Kusiak each homered in the game for the Lions. Fitzpatrick went 3-for-4 at the plate with two doubles to go along with his second inning home run that gave MSSU an early 1-0 lead. He and Kusiak each drove in a pair of runs in the contest.

Peyton Ingalls (7-2) allowed five runs over 3.1 innings of work. Pitt State relievers Ben Des Rosiers, Paul Panduro and A.J. Calhoon combined to limit the Lions to one run while registering eight strikeouts over the final 5.2 innings.