McPHERSON, Kan. (macbulldogs.com) --- Senior Darrian Moss hit his first career home run in his final home game as the McPherson College baseball team came out on the short end of a 25-7, 7-inning decision against No. 12 Tabor College Monday night at Light Capital Diamond.
After two scoreless innings, Tabor (35-12, 16-8 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference) struck for a pair of runs in the third inning as Colton Flax and Jacob Jones hit RBI singles.
McPherson (23-26, 11-13 KCAC) responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning as
Dylan Klava (Douglas, Wyo., Colby CC) scored from second when a
Trevor Haycock (New Iberia, La., New Iberia Sr. HS) single up the middle was misplayed in center field.
The Bluejays broke the game open with eight runs in the fourth and 12 in the fifth. Jordan Harris hit a grand slam in the fourth, while Haydon Mahe-Liessmann added a 3-run homer later in the inning. In the fifth, Jones hit both a 3-run homer and a grand slam.
The Bulldogs tallied two in the fourth as
Jackson Goodmiller (St. George, Kan., Rock Creek HS) hit an RBI single and
Dylan Fontenot (Lafayette, La., Carencro HS) scored later on a Tabor throwing error.
Moss launched his solo shot in the fifth to make it 22-4, but the Bluejays matched the run with a Raulier Martinez solo homer in the top of the sixth.
Tabor scored two more runs in the seventh, while McPherson was able to chip away at the lead with three runs in the bottom half of the frame before the Bluejays were able to end the game.
The Bluejays had 24 hits, including seven home runs, in the the contest. Jones went 5-for-6 with two home runs, eight RBIs and four runs scored.
Harris added four hits, including a double and a home run, while driving in six and scoring three times. AJ Shaw and Abdiel Alicea each added two hits and scored three times, while Joel Frias had three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored. Mahe-Liessmann and Kyle James both had three RBIs and two runs scored.
Nathan Arruda picked up the win, allowing four runs on eight hits in five innings.
McPherson scratched out 10 hits with Klava and Goodmiller finishing with two hits apiece. Goodmiller and
Chance Little (Wichita, Kan., Southeast HS) joined Moss with RBIs for the hosts.
The Bulldogs used a total of seven pitchers with starter
Matthew Green (Torrance, Calif., Brethren Christian HS) taking the loss after allowing six runs on eight hits and three walks in 3 1/3 innings.
"It just makes us happy," said head coach
Bryan Moses regarding Moss' blast. "He's put in such hard work here for four years and for him to get into a ball like that and be able to run around the bases here in his last year, it just makes me happy to see somebody with such a good heart. Our guys really do love each other and, when you get a moment like that after the game's gotten away from you, you kinda stop thinking about the score.
The Bulldogs return to Light Capital Diamond on Tuesday evening, this time as the road team, in a nonconference game against Central Christian College (12-32). McPherson has already taken two of three games from the Tigers, who will be considered the home team.
The regular season concludes with a three-game KCAC series against rival Bethany College (20-30, 5-19 KCAC) over the weekend. The teams are currently slated to play a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon before concluding the set with a nine-inning game at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon. With three games to play, McPherson holds a two-game lead over Saint Mary for the sixth and final spot in the upcoming KCAC Baseball Tournament.
