The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team fell on Friday evening at Fort Hays State, 4-3, at Larks Park in Hays, Kan.

– The loss drops Northwest to 24-25 overall and 19-19 in MIAA play. Fort Hays improves to 22-26 and 16-21 in
conference action.
– Nick Gotta went 4-for-5 with a run scored. He also stole a base.

– Joseph Hietpas started and went 6.0 innings. He allowed four runs with three walks and struck out eight.

Key Northwest Statistics
– Northwest scored single runs in the second, sixth and seventh innings. The Bearcats had three runs on 12 hits with no errors.

– The Tigers scored four runs on 11 hits with two errors. Fort Hays got one in the first, two in in the second and one in the fifth.

– James Holler went 2-for-4 with a run scored after he doubled to lead off the second.

– Garrett Fort was 2-for-5 with an RBI in the seventh.

– Kevin Handzlik was 2-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt.

– Jay Hrdlicka went 2-for-4 on the day.

– Jake Lewis got an RBI in the second inning.

– Kolby Greenslade scored in the seventh after reaching on a fielder’s choice.

– Ross Davis pitched 0.2 innings of scoreless relief.

– Nikko Pablo came in to record the final four outs for Northwest. He allowed just one hit. He struck out one and did not issue a walk.

Key Northwest Innings
– Holler doubled to lead off the second and he went to third on a groundout to short. With one down, Lewis grounded out to short, allowing Holler to score to tie the game, 1-1.

– In the sixth, Gotta hit a leadoff single to right. After a flyout, Gotta stole second and Adams drew a walk to put two runners aboard. Holler grounded into a fielder’s choice which moved Gotta to third but a throwing error on the play allowed him to score to make it 4-2 Tigers.

– Hietpas worked a perfect sixth inning, needing just 10 pitches. He struck out the first batter and then got a foul out and a fly out.

– Hrdlicka singled with one out in the seventh but traded places with Greenslade on a fielder’s choice. With two down, Gotta hit an infield single and a throwing error allowed Greenslade to move to third. Fort came up with an RBI single to center to score Greenslade, cutting the Fort Hays lead one, 4-3.

Up Next
– The regular season concludes tomorrow with a 1 p.m. game against the Tigers.

— Northwest Athletics —