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Tigers struggle on road
4/13/2009
By The Hays Daily News
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- The Fort Hays State University baseball team's problems on the road continued against Missouri Western State University. Fort Hays likely needed to win the four-game series to stay in the hunt for a regional bid. Instead, the Tigers dropped three of four to Missouri Western and are in fifth place in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. The top four reach the conference tournament.
Fort Hays is 22-4 at home, but 2-16 on the road. The Tigers lost two games Saturday, 3-1 and 5-1, and split Sunday's doubleheader, losing 7-0 and winning 5-2. In Game 1 Saturday, senior ace left-hander Eric Gilliland worked a complete game in taking the loss. Gilliland (7-5) has five complete games. In four of his losses, Gilliland, the conference's leader in innings pitched and third in wins, has pitched at least six innings. The defeat was Gilliland's first in nearly a month.
Offensively, Fort Hays left 11 runners on base and got an RBI single from sophomore outfielder Corey Gaudet for the only run. In Game 2, Tiger senior starter Kent Williamson (5-2) permitted four runs in the first inning. Gaudet drove in the lone run for Fort Hays.
On Sunday, Fort Hays was shut out in the first game by AJ Huttenlocker, among the conference's leaders in wins and innings pitched. Huttenlocker was backed by two homers. Tiger junior left-hander Matt Augustine (4-4) lasted four innings and permitted six runs.
In Game 2, Missouri Western took a 2-0 lead through six innings, but Fort Hays scored two in the seventh and three in the ninth. Junior Sean Bartholomew, who had worked in two just two games since Feb. 28, pitched six innings in his third start of the season.
Fort Hays tied the game in the seventh when junior outfielder Greg Bieker scored on a wild pitch and senior catcher AJ Levanduski hit an RBI single. In the ninth, Fort Hays used five singles and a walk to plate three runs. Junior reliever Garrett Morgan (3-3) picked up the win. Junior Mat Atkinson pitched the ninth for his seventh save. He is now tied for sixth on the all-time single season list at Fort Hays in that category.
Fort Hays is now 24-20 overall and 16-14 in the MIAA. The Tigers will travel to Topeka Tuesday for a doubleheader against Washburn University. Fort Hays will face No. 22 University of Nebraska this weekend for a four-game series in Omaha, Neb.
With 10 conference games left, Fort Hays' magic number for being eliminated for the conference tournament is 11. Any number of Tiger losses and University of Central Missouri (25-10, 16-8) wins will move Fort Hays nearer to elimination. Fort Hays has made the conference tournament the past two years.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |