The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team fell to Missouri Western, 12-3, on Saturday afternoon in the third round of the MIAA Tournament in St. Charles, Mo.
The Bearcats finish the year at 25-28 overall while the Griffons improve to 36-17.
Key Northwest Statistics
– Northwest scored single runs in the first, second and third innings. The Bearcats had three runs on eight hits with five errors.
– The Griffons scored 12 runs on 12 hits with no errors. Missouri Western got two in the second, two in the third, one in the fourth, one in the fifth, two in the eighth and four in the ninth.
– James Holler had a pair of sacrifice flies, driving in a pair of runs. He also drew a walk in the eighth.
– Jake Lewis was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. He hit his fourth home run of the year in the second inning.
– Jay Hrdlicka went 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of singles.
– Ozzie Adams went 1-for-4 on the day. He finishes the year with 209 at bats, setting a Bearcat single season record previously held by Ryan Bledsoe (207) back in 2008.
– Nick Gotta went 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored. He finishes the year with 45 walks, tying him with Brandon Huske (2013) for the Northwest single season record.
– Garrett Fort went 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
– Kevin Handzlik was 1-for-4 on the day.
– Brad Roberts got the start on the hill, going 4.1 innings. He recorded seven strikeouts and walked four batters.
– Nikko Pablo threw 3.1 innings of relief, allowing just two hits and two unearned runs. He struck out three and walked one.
– Jimmy McElwain got the final out of the eighth and the first out of the ninth. He allowed one hit, one run and struck out one.
Key Northwest Innings
– Gotta led off the first with a double that stayed fair down the right field line. He moved to thirdon a Fort groundout to second. Adams hit a sharp grounder to second but the Griffons tried to catch Gotta at the plate, allowing him to reach safely. Gotta was able to make it back to third safely. Holler hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Gotta, making it 1-0 Bearcats.
– After falling behind 2-1 in the second, Lewis needed one swing to tie things up. He took a 2-0 pitch to the oppositie field for his fourthhome run of the year to make it 2-2.
– Fort led off the third by hitting a high fly ball into short left field that fell between three Griffon players for a double. He moved to third on an Adams groundout to second. Holler turned on the first pitch he saw and drove it to deep left field for a sacrifice fly, making it 4-3 Missouri Western.
— Northwest Athletics —