PITTSBURG, Kan. – It's a long bus ride home from Pittsburg, Kan., but that 9 ½ hours goes a lot faster when you are going home with a win.
 
The MSU Denver baseball team, ranked No. 23 in Division II, was able to grind out a 14-8 win Sunday over host Pittsburg State (Kan.), splitting that two-game series while finishing off a 3-1 weekend that also included two victories over Sioux Falls (S.D.).
 
"That was a good win," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "They're as good of a team as we'll play all year, and it's especially nice after losing a tough one against them last night when things didn't bounce our way. Our guys just kept swinging, and then our bullpen came in and did their job."
 
Trailing 6-4 after three innings, the Roadrunners (9-2) tied the game with two runs in the fourth and then went ahead to stay with on a two-run single by Cody Schultz in the top of the fifth. Pitt State (8-3) got a run in the bottom of the fifth, but then Zane Covey and Eric Cox each pitched two effective innings and the Roadrunners tacked on two runs in the eighth and four more in the ninth.
 
"Being able to get Covey and Cox in there was big," Strain said.
 
Leading 10-7 when taking the mound, Cox did give up a run in the bottom of the eighth, but settled in and earned his third save of the season while extending his program-record career total to 22 – one away from tying the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's all-time record.
 
"None of the hits against him were hit that well, they just kind of fell in," Strain said. "But he was still filling it (the strike zone) up. (Catcher Colin) Stone back-picked a runner at first and that was huge to stop their momentum."
 
MSU Denver blew it open in the ninth with a two-run double by Ross Smith, an RBI ground out by Jake Williams and a run-scoring single by Cam Yuran.
 
Schultz was 4-for-6 with two RBIs, while Yuran was 3-for-5 and drove in two. Smith was 2-for-4 with four RBIs.