The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team concluded the road portion of its 2014 schedule on Saturday afternoon, falling twice to Emporia State in doubleheader at the Trusler Sports Complex. The Bearcats dropped game one on a walkoff single, 3-2, and dropped the second game, 11-7. Northwest is now an even 21-21 on the year and 15-18 in MIAA play. Emporia State moves to 30-14 overall and 23-13 in conference action.
Ryker Fox went 6.2 innings in game one, allowing just two earned runs on six hits. He walked just one batter and recorded seven strikeouts. Emporia State scored once in the second and added another in the fifth to take a 2-0 lead. In the top of the sixth, Northwest, Brandon Huske singled to start the inning and scored as Eric McGlauflin homer two batters later, to tie the game 2-2. But an error to start the bottom of the seventh came back to bite the Bearcats, as the winning run scored on a two-out single.
Both Huske and Steven Garber picked up a pair of hits in the contest. Jon Pomatto, Ryan Abernathy, McGlauflin, Nikko Pablo and Blake Hardegree all had hits in the contest.
In game two, Northwest used the longball to keep the game close as Huske, Austin Wulff and Zach Ferreira all went deep for the Bearcats. Emporia State jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the first but Northwest answered with three runs in the top of the second as Wulff hit a two-run shot and Blake Hardegree singled in Steven Garber who doubled. The Hornets would add two more in the third to tie the game. In the fourth, Wulff lead off with a double and scored on a Garber single.
But Emporia State added four runs in the bottom of the fourth and added another in the sixth. In the seventh, Northwest got three runs as Ferreira homered to score Hardegree. One batter later, Huske hit a solo homerun, bringing the score to 8-7 in favor of ESU. The Hornets would add three in the bottom of the eighth and were able to hang on for the 11-7 win.
The Bearcats used six pitchers on the afternoon. The Bearcats picked up 11 hits and did not commit an error.
Northwest finishes the regular season at home against Pittsburg State next weekend, starting on Friday, April 25, at 2 p.m. The two teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday followed by a single game on Sunday.
— Northwest Sports Information —