photo by: Conner Becker/Journal-World

Free State senior pitcher Jake Chun throws a pitch during the seventh inning of Thursday's 10-0 shutloss loss to Rockhurst on April 27, 2023, at the River City Baseball Festival at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawence, Kansas, U.S.A.

The Free State baseball team never seemed to have the right answer in a 10-0 shutout loss to Rockhurst on Thursday night.

Freshman Ben Graves got the starting nod for the Firebirds, allowing seven runs on five hits, five walks and three strikeouts through 3.1 innings on the mound. Rockhurst senior starter Marco Dumsky shut down the Firebirds (11-4) at the plate, allowing no runs or hits, four walks and seven strikeouts for the night.

The Hawklets, after a silent first inning, got the scoring started in the second with a two-run RBI double by Beau Neuburger. Rockhurst kept things moving, going up by four runs in the third on a walk by Kyle Graves and a sacrifice flyout by Nic Cipolla.

Rockhurst tacked on four more runs in the fourth, including an RBI single by Cipolla to bring home Lucas Redd from third. Relieving Graves midway through the fourth, sophomore Blaine Larkin stepped in hoping to calm the waters, but he coughed up the fourth run of the inning.

With Rockhurst now leading 8-0 when the side retired, Dumsky squashed any chance of a midgame comeback by Free State. Dumsky struck out senior Brady Kern and sophomore Wesley Cupps before a groundout by sophomore Ryan Weishaar ended the inning for the Firebirds.

With just one out in the fifth, Free State coach Mike Hill swapped out his sophomore reliever with senior Jake Chun. Chun, pitching the final stretch, allowed two more runs on three hits and a single strikeout against the Hawklets through the seventh.

Up next, Free State meets Carthage on Friday for day two of the River City Baseball Festival. First pitch is slated for 3:45 p.m. at Free State.

BOX SCORE:

Rockhurst 022 400 2 – 10 11 1

Free State 000 000 0 – 0 0 2

W – Dumsky; L – Graves.

Highlights for Free State: Graves 3.1 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 3 K; Larkin 1.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 K; Chun 2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 K.