FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2009

Lions break out the bats and run rule 11th ranked Central Missouri

Box Score

Kansas City, Kan. -  Junior pitcher CJ Maffei went the distance and threw just 81 pitches in seven innings, as the Missouri Southern baseball team used two big innings to run rule 11th ranked Central Missouri, 10-0 in game one of the 2009 MIAA Baseball Tournament in CommunityAmerica Ballpark today.

Southern (35-18) became the first team to run rule the Mules since February of 2000 when Central Oklahoma ended the game early.

After stranding two runners in each of the first two innings, the Lions broke out and scored six runs in the top of the third inning. Southern batted around in the inning that was highlighted by a two run double from Justin Beal and a three run home run, his tenth of the season, from Kenny Hart.

The Lions batted around again in the fifth when Shayne Hoke homered to start the inning. Skyler Rawlins added an RBI double, while Zach Caldwwell had an RBI sacrifice fly and Derek Ezell had an RBI single.

Maffei held the Mules (39-12) to just four hits over seven innings. He threw 81 pitches, 54 of which were strikes. Central starter Mitch Stubenhofer went two and a third and allowed five earned runs to earn his first loss of the season.

Seven different Lions drove in a run today, with Rawlins, Hoke and Hart having three hits each. Heart had three RBI's while Hoke drove in two and Rawlins scored twice. Every Lion hitter had a hit today and with the 3-4 day at the plate, Hart now joins the rest of the starting lineup as the Lions have every starter hitting above .300.

Southern will play tomorrow (May 9) at 3:30 pm against the winner of the Emporia State/Nebraska-Omaha game.