WARRENSBURG, Mo. - The baseball team managed to get a 6-5 win in the final game of a four-game series at powerhouse Central Missouri on Monday thanks to the exploits of newcomer
Jared Schwartz. The sophomore from Spring Lake, Mich. and a transfer from Muskegon Community College gave the pitching staff a much-needed shot in the arm with five no-hit relief innings in game two's victory for the Panthers. He took over to start the bottom of the fourth inning and after a leadoff walk managed to retire the next 10 batters as the Panthers were clinging to a 5-4 lead.
Schwartz cruised into the bottom of the ninth and DU provided an insurance run in the top of the eighth courtesy of a
Gaetano Vallone RBI single up the middle which scored
Ben Mets. UCM's leadoff hitter Michael Chrisman was hit by a pitch and then stole second. The next batter reached on an error to put runners on the corners. Schwartz was lifted for
Spencer Vainavicz and he got a huge double-play ball as the Mules did score from third to make it 6-5 but with two outs. UCM wasn't done though as a two-out single required another pitching change for DU.
Pablo Jacques came in and the runner stole second to put him in scoring position. Jacques though nailed down the save after falling behind 3-0 in the count. He got two strikes and struck out the final batter looking to end the game.
Ricky Clark got the start and went 2.1 innings for Davenport. He allowed three hits and three earned runs with three walks and two strikeouts.
Alex Lord tossed two-thirds of an inning in relief of Clark with a strikeout. Mets went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. He had a double and triple as part of those three hits.
Nolan Anspaugh drove in two runs with a double as well.
In game one, there wasn't much to write about as the Mules won 12-1 in a seven-inning game. DU could only muster two hits, both singles, by
Caleb Anspaugh and
Logan Hylek. Hylek drove in the team's run in the top of the seventh on a grounder to second. Anspaugh's single led off the third inning and Hylek's single came as a pinch hitter to lead off the sixth inning. Jacob Merithew (1-0) was masterful for Central Missouri going five innings in the start and allowing one hit with no walks and six strikeouts.
Evan Maize had a rough day getting pulled in the first inning. He allowed six earned runs in two-thirds of an inning with three walks and one strikeout in the loss (0-1). The Mules scored seven runs in the first and added three more in the fourth and two more in the fifth and had nine hits in game one.
The Panthers (2-5) will now look forward to their Florida trip which features nine games from Feb. 27-March 5. First up is Findlay on Sunday in Auburndale at Lake Myrtle Park. DU will face the Oilers at 1:30 PM followed by another game at 5:00 PM against Gannon. It will be the first game against Findlay ever and Davenport is 5-1 all-time against the Golden Knights.
