Baseball | 5/13/2017 5:34:18 PM

Joplin, Mo. – Missouri Western forced the if necessary game with a 7-6 victory over Central Oklahoma in the MIAA Baseball Tournament.
 
The Griffons jumped on top early with three runs in the top of the first inning starting with an RBI single from Levi Schreiner. Andrew Curry then singled up the middle and Schreiner scored on a wild pitch.
 
The Bronchos got a run back in the bottom of the third inning as Justin Brown singled up the middle to drive home Glenn Reeves. The Griffons pushed the lead back out to 4-1 as Schreiner had an RBI pop-up to the left fielder to drive home Nick Gawley.
 
UCO cut the lead in half in the bottom of the sixth as Jon Kamies reached on an error and Brenton Washausen scored. The Griffons got some insurance in the top of the seventh inning as Jeremy Alvarado doubled to drive in a run then scored on an RBI single by Andrew Curry.
 
The Bronchos would cut into the lead one again as in the bottom of the seventh Washausen had a sacrifice fly scoring Jake Dyer. Dayne Sommer would then follow that up with an RBI single to cut the Griffon lead to 6-4.
 
MWSU would push their lead back out to three as David Glaude hit just the second home of the tournament to right field. The Bronchos would then take advantage of two MWSU errors to cut the lead to 7-6 in the bottom of the eighth inning.
 
On the mound Dustin Agnew earned the win pitching the first 5.2 innings while Richie Peoples picked up his second save of the day.
 
The two teams will face off again in an elimination game on May 14 at 9 a.m. from Warren Turner Field in Joplin, Mo.