Game one | Game two | Season stats

WARRENSBURG, Mo. --  The SBU baseball Bearcats dropped a pair of games Tuesday at #2 Central Missouri, losing a pitching duel, 3-1, in the opener before dropping a wild 16-11 second contest.

In the opener, Greg Seay allowed three runs in five innings but was outdone barely by UCM's Eric Silkwood. Silkwood threw 5 1/3 innings and allowed just one run. SBU's only run came when Justin Barnhart doubled and later scored on Niko Saladis' single.

It was a completely different story in game two as the runs came in bunches. The two teams combined for 27 runs and 34 hits. UCM scored in seven of their eight innings while SBU scored in six of their nine frames.

Central Missouri (36-5, 28-4 MIAA) broke on top with an early 3-0 lead before SBU got back with single runs in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings. UCM led 8-3 after the fifth and pushed that margin to 11-3 after six. The Bearcats got two in the seventh on a triple by Justin Crumpley, but Central responded with three more in the bottom of the inning.

SBU's biggest outburst came in the eighth when they plated five runs, the big blow coming on a three-run shot by Crumpley. The Mules' Cory Deedrick tripled home two runners in the bottom of the eighth before SBU got a single tally in the top of the ninth.

Crumpley led the way for SBU with five RBI on three hits, missing a double for the cycle. Nigel Morton also had three hits while Paden Grubbs and Taylor Trotter drove in two runs each. Nick DeBiasse went 4-for-4 with four runs scored while Frank Specht had four RBI for the Mules.

SBU (11-35, 9-27 MIAA) will host Ottawa on Saturday for Senior Day, beginning at 1 p.m.