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Story Headlines
- The Northwest Missouri State baseball team used a four-run fifth inning to come from behind and defeat Nebraska Kearney, 7-5, Sunday afternoon in Maryville.
- The Bearcats improved their record to 8-11 overall and 6-6 in the MIAA, while the Lopers fell to 14-9 this season and 8-4 in conference play.
- Nikko Pablo started the game for Northwest and earned the win, while senior Carson Smith came in to throw three scoreless innings in relief to earn a save.

Key Statistics
- The Bearcats outhit UNK, 10-9.
- After moving to the three spot in the batting order, second baseman Paul Johnson finished 3-for-3 with two RBI and one run scored.
- Steven Garber also drove in two runs after connecting with a pair of singles.
- Austin Wulff hit his third home run of the season, finishing 1-for-4.
- Garrett Fort reached base on a single and a walk, scoring each time he reached.
- Nick Howard used a double down the left field line to drive in a run.
- Shortstop Nick Gotta scored two runs on one hit.
- Nikko Pablo threw six innings for the Bearcats to earn his second win of the year, scattering eight hits and giving up five runs. The sophomore struck out three.
- Carson Smith came in to finish the game for Northwest and gave up just one hit and struck out two in three innings of work. The save was his fourth this season.

Key Innings
- After the Lopers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with runs in the first and second, Northwest leveled the score with a pair of sacrifice flies in the bottom of the third. Nick Gotta led off and drove a single to center and advanced to third on Garrett Fort's single to right. After Paul Johnson sent a sac fly to center to score Gotta, Steven Garber skied a sacrifice to left, bringing in Fort.
- With one out in the fifth, Gotta reached on an error by the second baseman. After Fort drew a walk, Johnson roped a single back up the middle to drive in Gotta. Next, Fort came around to score when Garber crushed a single to right. The four-run inning ended after Nick Howard send a double down the left field line to score Johnson and Garber crossed the plate on Kolby Greenslade's groundout.
- Austin Wulff extended the Bearcat lead to 7-5 in the bottom of the sixth when he sent a home run over the left fielder's head.
- After Nikko Pablo faced one batter in the seventh, Darin Loe went to Carson Smith out of the bullpen to secure the victory. Smith struck out his first batter and then induced a 1-6-3 double play to get out of the seventh. He stranded a runner at third after striking out the final batter in the eighth and finished it off by inducing consecutive fly balls in the ninth.

Up Next
- The Bearcats will play the first game of a home-and-home series with the Quincy Hawks on Tuesday, March 17 in Maryville. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. Northwest will return to MIAA play next weekend when Fort Hays State makes the trip to Maryville for a four game series.