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ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Missouri Western defeated Fort Hays State Saturday afternoon in the first game of the first round of the MIAA Tournament 9-1 at Griffons Spring Sports Complex. The victory avenged last year's MIAA tournament game in which the Tigers knocked the Griffons out of the tournament. Missouri Western is now 36-8 and the Tigers sit at 23-21.

Brandon Simmons pitched seven complete innings and recorded a shutout. He is now 10-0 on the season. Simmons was in trouble twice with two bases-loaded jams in the bottom of innings No. 3 and 4, but the senior got out of the mess after he stuck out the Tigers' top hit Clayton Garland looking and forced a ground out in the third inning.

In the fourth, Simmons recorded two straight strike outs.

Michael Schulze scored a run in the first inning after he singled to left field. Grant Fink scored Schulze shortly later to make it 1-0. The Griffons continued to add runs in the fourth and seventh innings to mark the score 6-0 before Hays got on the board in the top of the eighth.

Bubba Dotson cracked a two-run homer over the center-field fence to give the Griffons a 9-1 run lead in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The teams return to action Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. The Griffons will be looking to close the series with a 2-0 sweep and advance to the second round of the MIAA tournament.