WEATHERFORD – SWOSU Baseball earned a big win on Tuesday after taking down No. 23 Missouri Southern 7-4. The Bulldog offense got going early with five runs through three innings and never looked back in the win.
 
SWOSU improves to 3-2 on the young season and will prepare for a four-game home series against Adams State this weekend. Action begins Friday with a single game at 1 pm.
 
Missouri Southern got on the board first in the opening frame by moving runners around the base path after a two-out walk prolonged the inning. SWOSU wasted no time in response by taking the lead a half inning later and adding to it in the third. 
 
Geoff Marlow belted a two-run homer, his first of the year, in the bottom of the first to give the Dawgs the lead. A safety squeeze and a pair of RBI singles in the third inning pushed the lead to 5-1 after Jackson Syring's one-out double provided the inning's catalyst.  
 
SWOSU used a slew of pitching in a 'bullpen game' and they held their ground through seven – only allowing two runs going into the bottom of the seventh.
 
MSSU chipped into the 5-1 deficit with a run in the top of the seventh, but it was erased in the home half when Reece Burke drove in two more with a long ball to left field – his first of the season.
 
With the Dawgs leading 7-2, MSSU didn't go away and tried to steal the win late. They scored two runs in the eighth and had two on in the ninth with the tying run at the plate. Ty Eastwood, in to pitch for the ninth, didn't allow any of them to cross and earned the save.
 
Burke finished 3-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Markus Coronado was also 3-4, while reigning Bulldog of the Week Jackson Syring finished 2-4 with two runs scored. Ayden Page claimed the win after tossing a scoreless second inning.
 
Nine pitchers were used in the game and nearly all threw an inning at a time at the start of each frame except for Tyler Fortin who pitched an extra batter into the fourth before Grant Ewy relieved him for two more outs.
 
Missouri Southern finished with nine hits in the game, but only one went for extra bases. SWOSU's offense outhit them, tallying a season high 12 hits.