CLAREMORE, Okla. — Head coach
Chris Klimas became the all-time winningest coach in Rogers State baseball history on Friday afternoon as the Hillcats (8-2, 1-0 MIAA) secured a dominant 9-1 victory over the Missouri SouthernLions (4-6, 0-1 MIAA) in the MIAA opener at the RCB Bank Sports Complex.
Klimas, in his 12th season as the RSU skipper, surpassed Hall of Famer
Ron Bradley with his 282nd career win.
"My initial reaction is that having my family here means a lot," Klimas said about breaking the record. "When I came in here, Coach Bradley did the first year of D2, and then we had a couple of years of probation after that with no postseason eligibility. The players that believed in coming here to get it turned and to put RSU back on the map nationally, being respectable, those guys come to mind. The amount of time and effort that went into flipping from NAIA to D2 was a lot of work and took a lot of hours. My wife letting me go do what I needed to as far as on the road recruiting and the amount of time, cell phone hours, minutes, whatever, to be able to do that means a lot. I don't think we'd be here without her being a Hall of Fame Coach's Wife."
Rogers State struck first with a three-run first inning, highlighted by RBI singles from
Andres Contreras and
Andrew Ramirez. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded, a blooper from
Nathan Gutierrez to left resulted in a fielder's choice RBI, giving the Hillcats an early 3-0 lead.
In the second inning, Contreras recorded his second RBI single, and
Tyler Nelson scored after a throwing error by Missouri Southern's second baseman during an attempted double play allowed him to reach safely. This gave RSU a 6-0 lead.
After two innings of shutout ball, the highlight of the day came from Gutierrez, who collected his first run of the season with a solo home run to right-center field in the fifth. Missouri Southern added a homer of its own in the sixth inning, but Rogers State responded with insurance runs in the sixth, including a sacrifice fly from
Sammy Harris and an RBI single from
Trevor Spainhoward, resulting in a 9-1 lead that held for the remainder of the game.
The Hillcats outhit the Lions 7-2, with Nelson and Contreras each collecting multiple hits. Contreras led the offense with three RBIs, while Goeke scored three times and walked three times. The lone extra-base hit for RSU came from Gutierrez's home run. The Hillcats also excelled in the field, committing no errors and turning two double plays.
Zach Horwith (1-0) delivered an impressive performance on the mound, pitching 8.0 innings while allowing just two hits and one earned run, along with tallying a strikeout.
Christian Estep pitched the final inning without allowing a hit to close the show.
Rogers State and Missouri Southern will face off again tomorrow at the RCB Bank Sports Complex for game two of the series at 2 p.m.
