KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Friends University baseball head coach Adam Neisius joined the prestigious 600 win club in the Falcons' 21-3 series opening victory at Avila University today (Mar. 23) in Kansas City, Mo.
Facing an early 3-2 deficit, the Falcons grabbed the lead for good with two runs in the third before sending Neisius well on his way to victory No. 600 with a six-run fourth inning.
DJ Killion capped the big fourth frame with his first career home run and the first of two Falcon grand slams on the day.
Buster Hardman singled in a run in the sixth and Niquan Benjamin drew a bases loaded walk in the seventh to add to the lead and set the stage for an eighth inning explosion that put nine exclamation points on Neisius' milestone victory.
Benjamin doubled in two runs in the big frame and Matthew Bronstad put the finishing touches on it by assuring his first career homer counted in the biggest way possible, a grand slam that gave the Falcons their 21-run total and finished the scoring in the run rule win.
"I don't think it's really sunk in yet," said Neisius. "Been quite the ride for 20+ years, things like this make me truly appreciate all the players I've had the pleasure of coaching throughout my career and I'm thankful my baseball crazy wife was there with us today."
Carlos Rodriguez and Tyler Godfrey fueled the Falcon attack with three hits apiece, with Godfrey driving in a pair of runs.
The Falcons, now 22-9 overall and 13-6 in the KCAC, also got two hits each from Killion, Hardman, Caleb Coats and Spencer Davidson.
Benjamin finished with three RBIs, while Zeke Henson scored three runs and drove in two.
Daniel Jaime, the current KCAC Pitcher of the Week, gave the Falcons a complete game performance, giving up just two earned runs with three strikeouts in eight innings for his team-leading sixth win of the season.
"I'm just happy we played well today," said Neisius. "Jaime threw the ball well again and we got the bats going. Good start to the series."
The Falcons and Eagles will wrap up the weekend series with a doubleheader tomorrow (Mar. 23) starting at noon.
