Story Headlines- The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team split an MIAA doubleheader on Thursday night against Missouri Western in St. Joseph, Mo.
- The Bearcats fell in game one, 3-2, in a seven inning contest. Northwest came back to win, 2-1, in the night's second contest, a nine-inning affair.
- Northwest is now 20-26 overall and 15-19 in MIAA play. Missouri Western is 27-19 overall and 20-14 in conference action.
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Game One Key Statistics (Missouri Western 3, Northwest 2)- The Bearcats scored two runs on eight hits with two errors. Northwest got single runs in the fourth and seventh innings.
- Missouri Western scored three runs on five hits with two errors. All three Griffon runs came in the bottom of the second.
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Anthony Caenepeel pitched all 6.0 innings, allowing just two earned runs on five hits. He had seven strikeouts and did not walk a batter.
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Paul Johnson was 2-for-3 with a run scored. He drew a walk and also had his seventh stolen base of the year.
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Derek Meyer was also 2-for-3 with a run scored.
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Garrett Fort was 1-for-3 with an RBI in the fourth inning.
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Kolby Greenslade,
Steven Garber and
Nick Gotta all had singles in the game. Gotta drew one of two Bearcat walks.
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Aaron Barratt, who pinch ran in the seventh, stole his third base of the year.
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Game One Key Innings- With one out in the fourth, Meyer singled to right and moved to second as Greenslade reached on an error by the third baseman. After Gotta drew a walk to load the bases, Fort was hit by a pitch which scored Meyer to make it 3-1.
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- Johnson drew a walk to lead off the seventh and went to second on a Garber single to left. After a strikeout, Wilkinson flew out to deep center, allowing Johnson to move to third. Barratt came in to pinch run for Garber and stole second with two outs. Johnson scored on a wild pitch and as the ball got away from the pitcher, Barratt tried to score from second but was tagged out for the final out of the game.
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Game Two Key Statistics (Northwest 2, Missouri Western 1)- Northwest had two runs on five hits with one error. Northwest scored twice in the top of the seventh.
- The Griffons had one run on four hits with two errors. Missouri Western scored a single run in the seventh on a solo homerun.
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Joseph Hietpas, who got the win, gave up just one hit through the first six innings before allowing a solo homerun to begin the seventh. He went 7.0 innings, allowing just two hits and the single run. He had six strikeouts and walked just two batters.
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Carson Smith got his eighth save of the year, pitching the final 1.2 innings. He allowed just one hit with three strikeouts.
Austin Battaglia recorded the first out of the eighth after allowing just one hit against the two batters he faced.
- Gotta and Johnson each picked up a hit and scored a run for the Bearcats.
- Garber was 1-for-3 with the team's lone RBI in the seventh.
- Fort and Wulff also had singles on the day.
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Game Two Key Innings- Gotta drew a one out walk in the top of the seventh. Two batters later with two down, Johnson singled to left center to put runners on first and second for Garber. Garber responded by lacing a single up the middle to score Gotta. On the exchange, the centerfielder bobbled the ball, allowing Johnson to score from first with Garber taking second on the throw.
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Up Next- The Bearcats and the Griffons continue the four-game series with a doubleheader scheduled for Friday night at 5 p.m.
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