WARRENSBURG, Mo. - The Davenport baseball team met up against Central Missouri on Friday afternoon to start a three-game series. These two teams are meeting for the third straight season and for the first time the Panthers took the first game of the series with a 5-4 win over the Mules.

Davenport did not trail in the contest and built a 5-1 lead after batting in the top of the sixth. The Mules came fighting back to score the last three runs, but it was not enough as Davenport improved to 2-2 on the season and dropped Central Missouri to 3-5 overall.

Ben Mets had himself a game going 4-for-5 with a double, triple, and an RBI. Mets had a RBI double in the third inning to make it 1-0. Central Missouri tied the game in the bottom of the third, but DU untied it with a RBI double by Khale Showers in the top of the fourth.

Carter Troncin made it 3-1 with a RBI double in the top of the fifth which scored Mets. Gaetano Vallone had a fielder's choice with a RBI in the top of the sixth for a 4-1 lead. Michael Tchavdarov kept the inning moving in the sixth with a RBI groundout for a 5-1 lead. Carson Fischer meanwhile on the mound was having a great start. He threw six innings and allowed one earned run with three walks and a strikeout. He faced 26 batters and got six flyouts and nine groundouts.

Spencer Vainavicz would replace Fischer and get a three-inning save. It wasn't without a little pressure however as he gave up two earned runs and three hits. He struck out five and walked just one. He gave up a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth and two runs in the bottom of the eighth.

The Mules lead off the bottom of the ninth with a single and a sacrifice bunt to move the tying run into scoring position. Vainavicz then buckled down with a strikeout looking and a pop up to end the game. 

Showers finished with three hits in five at-bats including two doubles. Troncin also had multiple hits including a double. Read Full Article