Baseball Tops Briar Cliff & St. Mary in Doubleheader

Leavenworth, Kan., (March 8, 2025)- The Missouri Valley College baseball team traveled to Leavenworth, Kan., for non-conference games, Saturday afternoon.  The Vikings opened the day with a 5-2 win over Briar Cliff (Iowa) and followed with a win over St. Mary (Kan.), 11-5.

The game with Briar Cliff opened with Junior Pitcher Tanner Duncan (Kennett, Mo.) taking down the top of the lineup in order, striking out one.  Missouri Valley followed with a long at-bat in the bottom half of the first inning.  Junior Leftfielder Shumpei Kaneko (Saitama, Japan) led off with a single, then stole second base.  Senior Third Baseman Connor Bell (San Diego, Calif.) brought Kaneko home on a single, and MVC went on top, 1-0.  Duncan was hit and Junior Catcher Carter Kalin (Superior, Wisc.) singled to load the bases with no outs.  Two batters later, Junior Centerfielder Mason Mitchell (Littleton, Colo.) drew a bases-loaded walk to score Bell, followed by Senior First Baseman Joe Hedger (Logan, Iowa) driving home Duncan on a grounder as the lead sat at 3-0.  Duncan faced the minimum in the second and third innings, striking out a pair over the stretch.  The Vikings threatened in the bottom of the third, as both Duncan and Kalin earned walks, but Duncan was caught stealing, and MVC stranded one baserunner without adding to its advantage.

Briar Cliff cut into its deficit in the top of the fourth, using two hits and a fielder's choice grounder to score one run.  Duncan worked out of the inning with a strikeout, as Missouri Valley stayed in front, 3-1.  The Vikings got that run back quickly in the bottom half of the inning, as Freshman Shortstop Sota Suzuki (Aichi, Japan) knocked out a leadoff homer.  Later in the at-bat, Kalin brought home Bell with a two-out single, and the lead grew to 5-1.  Duncan worked around a walk to strand one runner on-base in the top of the fifth, but BCU strung together two hits in the sixth inning to bring home one run.  The Vikings got out of the inning without surrendering another run, as a double-play was started on a liner hit to Bell at third.  Briar Cliff tried to rally in the seventh inning, eventually bringing the tying run to the plate with two outs.  The game ended on a Senior Pitcher Bodey Ellis (Kennett, Mo.) strikeout to finish a 5-2 win.

Both Kalin and Mitchell totaled two hits and one run each.  Bell had one hit, two runs and one RBI, while Suzuki added one hit, one run and one RBI with his solo home run.  Duncan and Kaneko each had one hit and run scored.  Duncan picked up the win going 5.1 innings, giving up three hits and two earned runs with four strikeouts, while Ellis earned the save after 1.2 innings of work, giving up two hits and striking out the final batter of the game.

The second game of the day, against St. Mary, began with Junior Pitcher Caleb Monnig (Liberty, Mo.) getting out of the top of the first inning with a double-play hit to Senior Second Baseman Ruben Fernandez (Madrid, Spain).  Monnig induced another double-play, this time Hedger at first base, to help keep the Spires scoreless in the top of the second inning.  Missouri Valley followed with a long rally in the bottom half of the inning as Hedger walked, and both Mitchell and Fernandez singled to load the bases.  Suzuki brought home the run of the inning on a sac-fly.  Senior Rightfielder Dale Bratz (Carstairs, Alberta) followed with a single to load the bases once again, and back-to-back singles from Kaneko and Bell drove home one run apiece.  Kalin worked a bases-loaded walk to score Bratz from third, and a single from Hedger allowed both Bell and Kaneko to score.  The at-bat continued with a Mitchell double that allowed Kalin to come home, and Fernandez capped the rally with a two-run double.  The Vikings scored nine runs on eight hits, bringing 14 total batters to the plate in the inning.

St. Mary got one of those runs back in the top of the third, on a fielder's choice grounder, but Monnig stranded two on-base to end the top of the third, and keep it a 9-1 score.  Missouri Valley added to its lead in the bottom of the fourth, as Kalin hit a leadoff homer to start the at-bat.  Later in the inning, Suzuki brought home Mitchell with a two-out single, and stretched the advantage to 11-1.  The Spires produced a pair of two-out hits in the top of the fifth to produce one run, and cut the deficit down to 11-2.  Senior Pitcher Coy Smith (Marshall, Mo.) took the mound in the sixth, and struck out one batter to strand two runners.  St. Mary tried to rally in the top of the seventh, and brought home three runs, but the Vikings closed out an 11-5 win.

Mitchell led with three hits, three runs scored and one RBI, while Fernandez had two hits, one run and two RBI's.  Bell added two hits, one run and one RBI, and Suzuki totaled two hits and two RBI's.  Kalin  and Hedger both finished with one hit, two runs scored and two RBI's apiece, and Kaneko had one hit, one run and one RBI.  Monnig picked up the win, going five innings with four hits, two earned runs and two strikeouts.

The pair of wins moved Missouri Valley to 7-6 on the season.

Up next, Missouri Valley will play both Briar Cliff and St. Mary in games Sunday afternoon in Leavenworth, Kan.  The game with Briar Cliff starts at 1 p.m., followed by a game with St. Mary at 3:30 p.m.

Briar Cliff Box Score-Click Here

St. Mary Box Score-Click Here

About Missouri Valley College

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.