The first day of the 2018 Great Lakes Valley Conference Baseball Championship Tournament was a day of upsets. Three lower-seeded teams picked up wins to remain in the winners’ bracket of the postseason event being played at US Baseball Park in Ozark, Missouri.

Game Four- No. 4 Missouri S&T 5, No. 1 Illinois Springfield 2

No. 4 West seed Missouri S&T capped off the thrilling opening round with a 5-2 upset win over top-seeded and East Division Champion Illinois Springfield, which entered the contest ranked No. 2/4 nationally.  The turning point, however, came in the sixth frame when S&T posted all five of its runs in the inning.  The upset win was sweet revenge for a Miners team that fell 17-4 at home to UIS on April 25.

Game Two – No. 3 Maryville 5, No. 2 Bellarmine 2. 

The first two contests on Friday will be elimination games. Drury and Bellarmine will battle at 9 a.m., followed by Southern Indiana and Illinois Springfield at 12:30 p.m. Following that second game, Maryville and Indianapolis will faceoff in the winner’s portion of the bracket, scheduled for 4 p.m., before the 7:30 p.m. matchup between Quincy and Missouri S&T closes out the second day of the postseason event.

The 2018 MIAA Baseball Championship started with four games on the opening day. First-round winners were third-seeded Central Missouri, seventh-seeded Emporia State, eighth-seeded Northeastern State and fourth-seeded Pittsburg State. Second round action begins with a rivalry tilt at 9 a.m. between second-seeded Northwest Missouri and sixth-seeded Missouri Western. All games are played at Crane Stadium at Tompkins Field in Warrensburg, Missouri.

Game One – No. 3 Central Missouri 9, No. 6 Missouri Western 3

Central Missouri combined to score six runs in the fifth and sixth inning to pull away from Missouri Western. Harrison Schnurbusch was 3-for-5 at the plate with a run scored to lead UCM. Fahd Shakeel’s two hits and RBI led MWSU.

Game Two – No. 7 Emporia State 15, No. 2 Northwest Missouri 2 (7 Innings)

Emporia State used an 11 run second inning to knock off Northwest Missouri. ESU’s first three batters combined for nine hits, eight runs and five RBIs. Jake Lewis and Derek Hussey each scored a run for the Bearcats.