Story Headlines- The Northwest Missouri State baseball team put on an offensive clinic in their home opener on Friday, defeating Nebraska Kearney 20-10 in seven innings.
- The Bearcats improved their record to 7-9 and 5-4 in the conference, while the Lopers fell to 12-8 and 6-3 in MIAA play.
- Northwest batted around in two different innings after plating 10 runs in the third and seven more in the fifth.
- Friday was just the third time since 2010 that the Northwest baseball team scored 20 or more runs in a game.
- All nine starters scored at least one run for the Bearcats.
Key Statistics- Northwest outhit the Lopers, 17-11.
- After popping up in his first at bat, left fielder
Kolby Greenslade reached base five straight times and finished 3-for-4 with a triple and three runs.
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Nick Gotta collected three hits and scored three runs while driving in another.
- Senior
Steven Garber reached base three times, scoring two runs and driving in two more.
- Catcher
Derek Meyer finished the game 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
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Paul Johnson used a pair of singles and one walk to score three runs.
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Anthony Caenepeel started the game for Northwest, spreading nine hits over six innings of work. The sophomore struck out six batters and walked none.
Key Innings- After falling behind 2-0 in the second, Northwest strung together seven hits and drew five walks in the bottom of the third. The first eight batters reached base safely in the inning.
Derek Meyer led off with a single to right. He scored two batters later when the left fielder bobbled
Nick Gotta's single.
Austin Wulff drove in the third run in the inning on a double to left. Two batters later,
Steven Garber clubbed a single to center, driving in two more runs. After a pair of walks, Meyer came back up and roped an RBI single to center. Later, Gotta collected his second hit of the inning to drive in another run.
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Paul Johnson led off the fifth with a single back up the middle and advanced to second on Gotta's bunt single. Wulff drove them both home with a double to right field. After two singles and two walks,
James Holler added a two-RBI single and eventually came in to score on a first-and-third double steal.
Up Next- The Bearcats will continue their series with Nebraska Kearney in a doubleheader tomorrow starting at 1 p.m. The series finale is scheduled for Sunday at noon.
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