The Central Missouri Mules were swept in an MIAA doubleheader for the first time since the 2012 season, as they dropped two games at Southwest Baptist on Thursday afternoon. The Bearcats won the opener 6-5 before taking the nightcap 6-2.

SBU (6-9, 3-7 MIAA) had an answer for every UCM score in game one. The Mules (8-9, 4-6 MIAA) got on the board first on Matt Milner's RBI double in the third inning. SBU plated two in the bottom half on Jake Vore's two-run double, however, to take a 2-1 lead.

UCM tied the game in the top of the fourth on Trevor Ezell's sacrifice fly, but the Bearcats scored twice in the bottom half on RBI singles from Zach Snodgrass and Chance Wolfe to regain the lead, 4-2.

SBU added a single run in the fifth on Payton Reed's RBI single to extend the lead to 5-2, but UCM plated three runs in the sixth to tie the game. Trevor Jones had an RBI single to start the scoring and Jake Alexander added a two-run single to tie the game.

Just as they had all game, SBU answered in the bottom of the sixth. The Bearcats plated one run on Wolfe's RBI single to center to regain the lead 6-5. Sam Vergara retired the Mules in order in the seventh to earn his second save of the season and give SBU the game one win.

Logan Johnson (1-0) earned the win in relief for SBU after giving up one hit in one third of an inning. Lucas Williams (2-2) took the loss for UCM after allowing one run on two hits in one inning of relief.

Game two was all Bearcats as they raced out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back. Ross Wolfe and Spencer Blacksher had RBI groundouts in the first to stake SBU to a 2-0 lead. The Bearcats would tack on four more in the second to make it 6-0. C. Wolfe had a two-run single and Christian Binger added a two-run home run in the frame.

The Mules got on the board in the sixth when Jake Nickelson hit his first home run of the season to make it 6-1.

UCM made thing interesting in the ninth getting three straight singles to start the inning to make it 6-2. Milner was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs, but Vergara came on and retired three straight Mules to close it out for his second save of the day and third of the season.

Adam Schemenauer (0-1) took the loss for the Mules after giving up four runs without a hit in 1.2 innings. He walked four and struck out two. Cole Roark (1-3) earned the win for SBU after allowing two runs on six hits in eight innings of work.

The Mules are under .500 this late in a season for the first time since 1990 when they also started 8-9. That year's squad started the year 8-10 before winning four straight games.

The teams will take Friday off due to forecasted rain. The series will wrap up on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at Dodson Field in Bolivar.

(Courtesy of UCM Sports)

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