Missouri State ace shuts down Wichita State
Missouri State pitcher Jon Harris lived up to his billing.
Harris struck out 11 in pitching the 14th-ranked Bears to an 8-3 victory over Wichita State on Friday in Springfield, Mo. Missouri State (32-10, 10-3 MVC) leads the Missouri Valley Conference standings. WSU (18-27, 6-7) is in fourth place, a half-game ahead of Evansville.
Harris, who averages 10-plus strikeouts a game, turned in his fourth game in which he struck out 10 or more.
He limited WSU to four hits in eight innings. Gunnar Troutwine led off the second with a single. Mikel Mucha led off the fifth with a single, and Daniel Kihle and Trey Vickers also had singles.
Vickers drove in Mucha for the only run off Harris.
Zach Merciez relieved Harris to start the ninth, and WSU hammered four hits, scoring two runs. The big blow of the inning was Zach Reding’s pinch-hit triple, scoring Troutwine, who had singled. Tanner Kirk’s single drove in Reding. Taylor Sanagorski also singled in the inning.
Notes: The Shockers will face Matt Hall (6-2, 2.95) on Saturday. Hall has 95 strikeouts in 76 1/3 innings. WSU will counter with Chase Williams (7.28, 1-3).… Missouri State center fielder Tate Matheny is the son of St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Mattheny.… WSU stranded seven baserunners, five in scoring position.… The Nos. 6, 7 8 hitters in the Bears lineup drove in six runs and were a combined 5 for 9.… Ryan Tinkham, whose 21-game hitting streak was broken in the final game against New Mexico, is 0 for his last 10.… Kihle made all three outs in the eighth, including a sliding catch on Joey Hawkins’ dying fly ball.… Reliever Taylor Sanburn allowed one run in two innings. H would not have been charged with that run had he not thrown two wild pitches.… With two hits, Troutwine is hitting .333 (10 for 30) in his past 10 games.
Wichita State | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | AVG |
Kihle cf | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .322 |
Tinkham 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .335 |
Hilliard rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .335 |
Troutwine c | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .312 |
Rader 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .246 |
Mucha lf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .273 |
Reding ph | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .195 |
Kirk 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .235 |
Sanagorski dh | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .200 |
Vickers ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .224 |
Totals | 34 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 11 | |
Missouri State | |||||||
Becker 2b | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .295 |
Hawkins ss | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .289 |
Matheny cf | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .294 |
Cheray dh | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .500 |
Burger 3b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .320 |
Paulsen 1b | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .275 |
Johnson lf | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .311 |
Graham rf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .305 |
Fultz c | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .281 |
Totals | 32 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 6 | |
Wichita St. | 000 | 010 | 002 | — | 3 |
Missouri St. | 113 | 020 | 10x | — | 8 |
E — Kirk. DP — . LOB — WSU 7, MSU 7. 2B — Becker (10), Graham (3), Paulsen (9). 3B — Reding (1). HR — Johnson (5). S — Rader, Hawkins.
Wichita State | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
Anderson L,4-6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 4.42 |
Sanburn | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6.10 |
Goshen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.66 |
Missouri State | |||||||
Harris W,5-1 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 2.29 |
Merciez | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.19 |
WP — Sanburn 3, Harris. HBP — Vickers (by Harris), Burger (by Anderson). Balk — Harris. Umpires — home, Mark Wagers; first, Mark Hutchinson; third, Bill McGuire. T — 2:41. A — 932.
This story was originally published May 1, 2015 at 10:08 PM with the headline "Missouri State ace shuts down Wichita State."