The Northwest Missouri State baseball team ledoff the game with a home run Saturday night, but could not hold onto the lead dropping game one of the series to Pittsburg State 11-6.

The Bearcats first batter of the game, Ryan Abernathy, hit his fourth home run of the season on a 2-0 count to go up early 1-0 in the top of the first. Pittsburg State added three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead 3-1.

The Gorillas added two more runs in the second inning and one run in the fifth while holding the Northwest offense silent until the sixth.

Steven Garber grabbed two RBIs when he knocked in Cam Bedard and Eric McGlauflin with a double down the left field line to bring his team within three at the end of the sixth inning. PSU was able to plate across five runs in the bottom of the sixth to take an 11-3 lead.

Tyler Durant was able to bring in Abernathy from third on a single in the seventh inning. Later in the same inning MacGlauflin singled through the left side to bring in Brandon Huske making the score 11-5.

Northwest was unable to complete the comeback scoring one more run in the eighth inning off the bat of Abernathy. Ryan Abernathy finished the day a double shy of the cycle going 3-3 with two RBIs, two runs scored and a walk.

Ryker Fox was tagged with the loss in the 11-6 defeat.

The Bearcats move to 21-26, 18-23 on the season. Games two and three of the series will be played Sunday with game one slated to start at 1 p.m. and game two set to follow.

— Northwest Sports Information —