It was not the ideal start for the Northwest Missouri State baseball team as they fell in the season opener 19-7 to Arkansas-Monticello Friday afternoon.
The Bearcats fell to 0-1, as their bats picked up where they left off in 2012. Unfortunately their pitching struggled in the opener as the Boll Weevils improved to 2-3 on the young season.
UAM got off to a hot start in the bottom of the first, as the Boll Weevils batted around en route to an eight run first inning. Bearcat starter Blane Reutter was unable to get out of the first frame being charged with seven earned runs in 0.2 innings of work.
Being faced with a 10-run deficit the Bearcat offense came alive in the top of the third. Back-to-back singles from Luke Lawyer and Jon Pomatto set the stage for Brandon Huske who singled through the right side scoring both Lawyer and Pomatto.
One batter later, Ryan Abernathy scored on a sacrifice fly from Eric Swain after Abernathy had singled to load the bases for Huske. Abernathy led the Bearcats going 4-for-5 with two doubles in the loss.
After holding UAM scoreless in the bottom of the third frame the Boll Weevils’ offense pounded out six more hits to push their lead to 16-3. Austin Warren gave way to Pat Brady who managed to calm the UAM bats in 2.1 innings of work.
The Bearcats would again chip away in the seventh inning as JJ Baccari blasted a 3-run homer to right pulling the deficit to 19-6. However the UAM lead would be too much as the Bearcats were only able to scratch one more run across in the top of the ninth for a 19-7 final score.
Along with Baccari’s three RBIs, Huske also finished the afternoon with three RBIs pushing the final run across in the ninth. As a team the Bearcats finished with 10 hits, but left five on base and also committed three errors.
Jace Anderson and Tyler Barth combined to hold UAM scoreless over the final 2.1 innings.
UAM finished with 18 hits and left nine men on base in the win. Seven different Boll Weevils finished with multiple hits including three players with three hits. Bobby Bryan picked up the win for UAM going six innings and scattering five hits.
The Bearcats and Boll Weevils return to the diamond Saturday for a double-header starting at 11 a.m. Both games Saturday will be two nine inning games.
— NWMSU Sports Information —