Southern defeats Harding in Walk-Off Fashion 7-6

JOPLIN, Mo. — The NCAA Division II Central Regional in Joplin kicked off Thursday afternoon. The hosts of the tournament the Missouri Southern Lions and the two seed took on the seven-seeded Harding Bison in the first round of action.

A Garrett Rice walk-off RBI double propelled Southern to a thrilling 7-6 win over Harding. MSSU improved to 43-13 on the season.

The Lions got off to a hot start with an early 2-0 lead in the first inning from a Garrett Rice two-RBI single that brought home Drew Townsend and Ethan Clark.

In the third inning, Southern put three runs on the board to push their lead to 5-0. An issued walk in the fourth added one more run for MSSU to lead 6-0.

However, in the fifth inning, Harding would finally get on the board by scoring three runs to cut the deficit in half. Then, in the top of the ninth, the Bison found a way to tie the game up at 6.

But, in the bottom of the ninth, Rice was back up at the plate and doubled one to left-centerfield to bring Will Doherty home from first for the game-winning. In walk-off fashion 7-6.

Drew Townsend led the Lions at the plate going 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored. Will Doherty recorded 2 hits on 3 at-bats along with 3 RBIs and 1 run scored. Both Henry Kusiak and Garrett Rice went 2-for-4. Kusiak had 1 RBI and scored 1 run. While Rice tagged 3 RBIs.

On the mound, Cole Gayman pitched 7.1 innings, gave up just one earned run on six hits and struck out 3. Kyle Moore picked up the win tonight.

Southern will play the six-seed Arkansas-Monticello on Friday, May 17th at 5 p.m. after they defeated three-seeded Arkansas Tech 11-9.

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