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FHSU baseball earns sweep against Pittsburg State
4/5/2009
By NICK McQUEEN
nmcqueen@dailynews.net
The Tigers are the conference's second-best hitting team, third in doubles, and leader in home runs. So, it might come as a shock to know the Fort Hays State University baseball team can play "small ball" too.
In Saturday's final game of a four-game Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association series with Pittsburg State University at Larks Park, the Tigers put the finishing touches on a weekend where they showed they do have what it takes to come through in the clutch.
A sacrifice bunt by junior second baseman Tyler Robbins tied Saturday's nightcap, and eventually led to a 3-2 victory over the Gorillas, capping a four-game sweep.
Fort Hays won Saturday's opener, 4-2 after Friday's 3-0, 9-6 victories.
"The thing we struggled with earlier was finding a way to get it done with the game on the line," Tiger coach Rick Sabath said. "We really did a nice job with that all weekend long."
The win was the ninth in the last 10 outings for the Tigers, after they had dropped 8-of-9 in a long road stretch.
It was also the third four-game sweep Fort Hays (23-17 overall, 15-11 MIAA) earned in conference play.
The Tigers also snagged a bit of redemption, taking four from a Gorilla team that kept them out of the regional tournament last season with three wins at Larks Park in the final series of the year. Pittsburg State dropped to 9-23 overall and 6-12 in the MIAA.
"Any time you take four from a team, no matter where they fall in the conference, top or bottom, it's huge," said Fort Hays junior Greg Bieker, who singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of the nightcap. "Any time you can snag four, it's a big accomplishment."
What was just as impressive was the way it happened. Down 2-1 in the seventh, the Tigers had been fighting a strong wind that pushed hard to the left-field corner.
The wind briefly switched direction in the seventh and was pushing more toward left-center. Bieker led off the inning with a double and junior Chase Schippers followed with a single to advance Bieker.
Facing a new pitcher, Robbins laid down a one-out bunt, scoring Bieker from third.
"We need to bunt better," Sabath said. "We haven't small-balled very well this year, but Tyler can handle the bat well, and that was a good matchup for what we needed to do."
Going into the weekend, the Tigers were well out in front of the rest of the MIAA with 47 home runs, and were third in doubles.
"We have a lot of guys that can drive the ball a long way, but on a day like today you hit the ball as well as anybody and it goes 220 feet," Bieker said. "You kind of have to laugh a little bit."
Bieker's go-ahead RBI in the eighth gave the win to junior right-hander Garrett Morgan (2-3), who pitched the eighth.
Junior right-hander Mat Atkinson picked up save No. 6 on the season in the ninth, moving him into a tie for seventh on the Tigers' single-season list.
Junior Matt Augustine pitched seven innings in a no-decision on three days' rest, giving up seven Pittsburg State hits, with two walks and three strikeouts, the second solid start of the day.
In Saturday's opener, senior left-hander Eric Gilliland pitched a complete game, also on three days' rest, for the win, aided by a three-run homer by Schippers.
"I was just trying to find something good to hit," Schippers said of his homer in the fourth inning of the opener. "I got a good one to take advantage of."
The long ball was Schipeprs' second of the season, and it was into a stiff wind.
"I just kind of got up underneath," Schippers said. "I was lucky enough to barrel it up, pretty much got the perfect spot in that wind to push it out a little bit."
The homer gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead after Gilliland (7-4) had struggled early, giving up a run in both the first and second innings. The complete game was his fourth of the season.
"That was big, especially with (Gilliland) and (Augustine) here today going on three days' rest," Sabath said. "Both of them giving us seven good innings was outstanding.
"You can't ask for much more than that," he added.
Schippers made his eighth start at shortstop since a hamstring injury to senior Brett Becker, who was back on the field in the nightcap. Becker, back for this series after missing six games, started the second game and hit a double, one of eight Tiger hits.
"We're just trying to play good baseball, and continue with the improvements we make day-to-day and keep chugging along," Sabath said. "We'll see if we can continue to play good baseball."
The Tigers are on the road for four games Friday and Saturday at Missouri Western State University, and still sit fifth in the conference standings. The top four make the MIAA's postseason tournament in Kansas City.
Friday
Fort Hays 3, Pittsburg State 0
Fort Hays 9, Pittsburg State 6
Behind a complete game from senior Kent Williamson, the Tigers started the series with a 3-0 win, part of Fort Hays' annual "Pack the Park" night at Larks Park. Fort Hays posted all of its runs in the fourth inning, two coming on a double from Bieker and the other on an error. The Tigers put up eight hits against a complete game for the Gorillas' Tim Brown, who leads the MIAA in complete games with seven.
In the nightcap, Fort Hays led 9-0 after two innings on six hits and a pair of Gorilla errors. Pittsburg State bounced back with four runs off senior Brian Thompson, who gave up four third-inning runs before being relieved by junior Aaron Nuss. Nuss pitched four innings to pick up the win and move to 1-2. Atkinson pitched the ninth for the save.
Sophomore catcher Ryan Majercik collected three hits in Friday's Game 2, and senior third baseman Alex Harvey drove in three runs for the Tigers.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| SB | 03/08 | Fort Lewis | W 5-4 |
| BB | 03/07 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 13-7 |
| BB | 03/06 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 16-4 |
| BB | 03/06 | No. 9 Emporia State | W 3-0 |
| MB | 03/05 | Emporia State | L 65-61 |
| BB | 03/05 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 10-3 |
| WB | 03/04 | No. 15 Emporia | L 72-66 |
| WB | 02/28 | No. 12 Emporia State | L 87-80 |
| MB | 02/28 | Emporia State | W 94-47 |
| SB | 02/28 | Quincy | L 6-0 |
| SB | 02/27 | Mo Southern | W 9-3 |
| SB | 02/27 | Missouri S&T | L 8-3 |
| SB | 02/27 | Drury | W 17-10 |
| BB | 02/27 | Mo. Western | W 17-0 |
| BB | 02/27 | Mo. Western | W 3-2 (10 inn.) |
| BB | 02/26 | Mo. Western | W 12-8 |
| BB | 02/26 | Missouri Western | W 11-10 |
| MB | 02/24 | Pittsburg State | W 69-60 |
| WB | 02/24 | Pittsburg State | L 78-74 |
| MB | 02/21 | Mo. Southern | L 76-57 |