The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team could not complete the comeback as they fell 8-6 to the second-ranked Central Missouri Mules Sunday afternoon at Bearcat Field.
With the loss, Northwest fell to 5-15 on the season and 4-8 in MIAA play while the Mules improved to 16-1 overall and 11-1 in league play.
The Bearcats would start the scoring as Eric Swain belted a two-run home run over the left field fence in the bottom of the first, his seventh home run of the season, to put Northwest up 2-0.
The Mules would answer in the top of the second to even the score at 2-2.
Central Missouri would add two runs in the top of the third and plate four more runs in the fourth to hold the 8-2 advantage.
Northwest would chip away at the Mules lead starting in the fifth inning thanks to a Ryan Abernathy double. A Swain sacrifice fly to left field would plate Abernathy.
Steven Garber would get another run on the board for the Bearcats in the sixth as he would plate Jake Kretzer off of a single up the middle.
The Bearcats would continue to chip away at the Mules lead in the seventh thanks to singles from Eric McGlauflin and Swain. A Tyler Durant sacrifice fly would plate McGlauflin and bring put the score at 8-5 Mules going into the eighth.
Josh Parrish would give the Bearcat offense a chance to rally from the six run deficit with 2.2 scoreless innings of relief. Parrish did not allow a hit while striking out three.
A Bearcat rally would fall short in the ninth but not before McGlauflin would push Abernathy across the plate with an RBI double. A two-out single and stolen base by Jake Kretzer with two outs put the tying run in scoring position before the final out of the game was recorded by Jordan Coons.
Swain and Abernathy each recorded multiple hits for the Bearcats going 3-for-5 and 2-for-4 respectively.
Kretzer, McGlauflin and Cole Mapes each recorded two hits in the loss as well.
Up Next: The Bearcats will host Rockhurst University this Tuesday in non-conference action. First pitch from Bearcat Field is slated for 1 p.m.
— NWMSU Sports Information —