HOUSTON, TEXAS – A day after winning the opening game of the season at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, the No. 18 Millersville Marauders uncharacteristically struggled in a 10-0 loss to No. 4 Central Missouri.

The Mules, the host of the Houston Winter Invitational, used only two pitchers in the game. Junior Jordan Fowler (an Ole Miss transfer) tossed five scoreless innings and struck out eight, surrendering only a single hit to Jimmy Cain in the fourth inning. Fowler was relieved by fellow junior Collin Jones, who pitched the rest of the game. Only pinch-hitter Nick Mancuso, who entered the game in the seventh inning, was able to get a hit off of Jones when he drove the ball through the middle of the infield.
 
Millersville committed seven errors in the game after not committing any in Friday's win against Arkansas Tech. That total is the most they have committed in a game since March 2, 2014 against Franklin Pierce University, when they also finished with seven errors.
 
Junior Jeff Taylor made his first start as a Marauder after transferring from Penn State University. Taylor pitched four innings, allowed two runs, and struck out five. Taylor got into a rhythm late in the second inning and retired eight straight batters.
 
Sophomore Kris Pirozzi relieved Taylor in the fifth and faced 11 batters, struck out two, and was tagged for three runs (two earned.) Four additional arms out of the bullpen (Kyle Peterson, David Hutchison, Jacob Paulishak, and John Turner) handled the rest of the pitching duties.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Central Missouri opened the scoring in the second inning. Harrison Schnurbush began the frame with a leadoff double and advanced to third after a sacrifice bunt by Dusty Stroup. Cole Taylor grounded out towards the right side of the infield and Schnurbush touched home as the Mules manufactured the run to take the lead.
 
• Taylor added another RBI in the fourth inning on an infield single, but was almost outdone by second baseman Jimmy Losh, who made a brilliant fake throw to first base to coerce Stroup, who was on second base, to rush towards home plate. Everything worked as planned except for Losh's throw home, which one-hopped and allowed Stroup to score to make it a 2-1 game.
 
• Central Missouri added two more runs in the fifth, four runs in the seventh, and two runs in the eighth to end the game.
 
 INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Freshman Bren Taylor started his second straight game in the outfield and drew a walk in the third inning.
 
• Central Missouri cleanup hitter Alex Madera led the way for the Mules, collecting two hits (including a double) and three RBIs.
 
• Cole Friese showed off his throwing arm in the fifth inning, earning an outfield assist for the second straight game. Madera singled to centerfield and tested Friese's arm, trying to advance to second base. Friese cut him down with a pinpoint throw for the second out of the inning.
 
POST-GAME REACTION FROM HEAD COACH JON SHEHAN
• On today's result: "Baseball's a funny game. We're going to play fifty ballgames plus this year so it's one of those things where we have a lot to work on. Was I disappointed in today's game? Absolutely. We are a much better club than that, especially defensively. I think one of our strong points is our defense. We played poorly defensively and kicked it around today."

• On what went right in the game: "I thought our first two arms were a strength. They threw a lot of strikes which is positive; especially Kris Pirozzi who came out and threw over seventy-five percent strikes. If he's able to do that with his stuff this year he's going to have a very good year. We faced a very good arm too. We need to find a way to score and manufacture runs. Central Missouri played the game that we wanted to play today. Offensively, that means finding ways to scrap a couple runs together. They executed and we didn't."
 
• On what he wants to see from the team's veterans: "Leadership has to have some accountability and say, "enough is enough." We totally lost focus in a 4-0 game in the fifth or sixth inning. It felt like we were down by 12. Someone has to step up and put the team on their back defensively and offensively."
 
• On preparing for Arkansas-Monticello tomorrow: "You need to have a short memory and go compete from pitch one tomorrow and play a nine-inning game. Monticello has a good club and they're not going to take it easy on us just because we had a bad day today."
 
NOTES
• Jimmy Cain, Eric Callahan, and Bren Taylor are the only Marauders to reach base in both of the games this season.
• Junior Nick Mancuso's pinch-hit single was his first career hit as a Marauder.
• The other results of Saturday's games at this year's Houston Winter Invitational: Flagler defeated Arkansas-Monticello 6-3 and the Colorado School of Mines defeated Arkansas Tech 6-2.
 
UP NEXT
• The Marauders finish the Houston Winter Invitational with a game against Arkansas-Monticello on Sunday, Feb. 2 at 6:00 p.m. EST. Arkansas-Monticello is winless at the Houston Winter Invitational.