Central Missouri wins opener in national baseball finals

Central Missouri baseball continues to win big games in the postseason.

The Mules won their opener in the NCAA Division II National Baseball Championship on Saturday.

Central Missouri, the No. 5 seed among the final eight teams in the championship, beat fourth-seeded Ashland (Ohio) 9-4 in Cary, N.C.

Central Missouri will face top-seeded Colorado Mesa on Monday. Colorado Mesa beat No. 8 seed NYIT 11-4 in Saturday’s second game.

The final eight teams are split into two double-elimination brackets, with the winners of each of those brackets to square off for the national championship on June 8.

Central Missouri, which won the Central Super Regional on May 24-25 in Sioux Falls, S.D., got most of their work done on Saturday in the second inning. The Mules took a 5-0 lead with four runs in the second.

Left fielder Harrsion Schnurbusch, who played in high school at Lee’ Summit West, finished with three hits and three RBIs on Saturday. Mason Janvrin, the Mules hometown center fielder from Warrensburg, also had three hits, with two RBIs.

Starter Ben Kelsch pitched 6 1/3 innings for Central Missouri. Kelsch gave up four runs on six hits. He struck out four.

Central Missouri improved to 44-14 on the season.

This story was originally published June 1, 2019 at 6:15 PM.