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KIRKSVILLE -- Kyle Veazey pitched eight solid innings, Devon Myers and Kody Stricklin each went three-for-four and Chris Allard nailed down his second save of the season as the Truman Bulldogs picked up the series split against Missouri Southern on Sunday by a 5-4 score.

Two unearned runs staked the Lions to the first inning lead and the extended it to three after the top of the third.

Back-to-back singles to lead off the bottom of the inning by Stricklin and Michael Reese jumpstarted the Bulldog attack as Myers drove in Stricklin for Truman’s first run with one out.

The first five Bulldogs reached in the fourth as Stricklin brought in the second run on a nubber past the pitcher and Reese followed with an RBI ground out to tie the game up.

Stricklin’s double brought in Luke Crader in the sixth to put Truman up 4-3. Bryce Bond’s sac fly in the seventh scored Myers, who led off the inning with a double and his third hit of the game and eighth of the series.

After the first three, Veazey settled in and allowed just three hits through eight innings while fanning three Lion hitters. He gave way to Allard in the ninth with Truman up by a run.

Allard walked his first hitter he faced but after a sac bunt, flyout and wild pitch, got Tee Helsel swinging with the tying run 90 feet away for his second save of the season.

Veazey improved to 1-3 while Cody Greibling was tagged with the loss after entering the game in the fifth.

The Bulldogs will next play Northwest Missouri in a four-game conference series next weekend in Maryville.

Inside The Series: Truman hit .315 as a team while the Lions slugged .258 over the four-games…Devon Myers was 8-of-16 (.500) and Luke Crader was 4-of-8 (.500) to lead Truman offensively…Kody Stricklin finished the four games 7-of-15 (.467)…Truman had 41 hits to Southern’s 34…all four Bulldog starting pitchers went at least seven innings and struck out 25 Lion hitters while issuing just six walks…Dallas Burke led Southern with six hits in 15 at bats (.400) and six runs scored while Jesse Kinsey was also 6-of-15 with four doubles…Southern pitcher Grant Conrad appeared in all four games, made one start, tossed 10 1/3 innings with an ERA of 0.87, the Bulldogs hit .317 against Conrad.

(Courtesy Truman State Athletics Department)