FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2-21-04

College Baseball: No. 4 AASU 17, No. 9 Missouri-St. Louis 5

SAVANNAH, Ga. – George Fletcher, Brandon McKinnon and Steven Kinney went back-to-back-to-back with home runs to lead off the third inning as No. 4-ranked Armstrong Atlantic pounded No. 9 Missouri-St. Louis, 17-5, in college baseball action at the 2004 Diamond Classic on Saturday afternoon.

Brandon Nunez and Sean Hotzak also clubbed home runs as the Pirates (9-1) busted out for season-highs with 22 hits and 17 runs scored. Four Pirate players had three hit games and Hotzak drove in four runs on the day. The offense was more than enough for All-America starter Jon Dobyns (3-0), who gave up just three hits and five runs in 6 1/3 innings pitched, striking out six but walking seven.

Bubba McKoy (0-1) was saddled for the loss for Missouri-St. Louis as he gave up 11 hits and 10 earned runs in three plus innings pitched for the Rivermen (0-2). He gave up four runs in the first inning then, after giving up the three straight home runs in the third, did not retire a batter in the fourth and was chased.

The Rivermen got two runs on a two-RBI double by Jonathan Mercer in the third inning, then plated three runs in the fifth inning.

Florida Southern will play Missouri-St. Louis at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday in concluding 2004 Diamond Classic action, while the Pirates will host Florida Southern at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

- Pirates -