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Story Headlines
- The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team fell to Fort Hays State, 9-8, on Saturday afternoon at Larks Park in Hays, Kan.
- Northwest finishes the regular season with a 24-26 overall record and a 19-20 mark in MIAA play. The Tigers finished the year at 23-26 overall and 17-21 in conference action.
- All nine Bearcats in the starting lineup got at least one hit on Saturday.
- Ozzie Adams went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a walk.
- Jay Hrdlicka went 3-for-5 with a home run, a double, two runs scored and an RBI.
- Jake Lewis was 3-for-5 on the day with a double and an RBI.

Key Northwest Statistics
- The Bearcats scored three runs in the third, one in the sixth, one in the seventh, two in the eight and one in the ninth. Northwest finished the day with eight runs on 16 hits and two errors.
- The 16 hits is the third highest this season for the Bearcats.
- Fort Hays scored nine runs on 13 hits with one error. The Tigers got four runs in the fourth and five runs in the fifth inning.
- Kevin Handzlik was 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs.
- Nick Gotta went 1-for-4 with an RBI, a run scored and a walk.
- Garrett Fort was 1-for-4 with two runs scored. He also had a sacrifice bunt in the first inning.
- James Holler went 1-for-5 with a pair of RBIs after getting the start in left field.
- Aaron Barratt went 1-for-5 with a run scored.
- Nick Howard was 1-for-5 with an RBI.
- Brad Roberts started on the mound for the Bearcats, going 6.1 innings. He struck out four batters and allowed just one walk.
- Jimmy McElwain got the final two outs of the seventh inning, allowing only one hit.
- Carson Smith worked a perfect eighth inning, using just 10 pitches.

Key Northwest Innings
- Gotta drew his 44th walk of the season to lead off the top of the third. After a pitching change, Fort reached on an error by the second baseman to put two on with no outs. Adams reached on a bunt to load the bases. Holler grounded out to first but drove home Gotta to make it 1-0 Northwest. Handzlik hit a two-RBI single to left, scoring Fort and Adams, to give the Bearcats a 3-0 lead.

- With one out in the sixth, Barratt hit a 1-1 pitch to left for a single. Hrdlicka followed it up with another single to put runners on the corners. Howard came up with an RBI single to left, scoring Barratt.

- Adams led off the seventh with a single to left and went to second on a balk. After a pair of outs, Lewis hit an RBI double to left to score Adams.

- Hrdlicka led off the eigth with a double to right field. After a pitching change and an out, he moved to third on a passed ball. Gotta grounded out to short which allowed Hrdlicka to score from third. Fort singled with two down and Adams drew a walk to put two runners on. Holler came up and hit the first pitch he saw to left for an RBI to score Fort to make it 9-7 Tigers.

- With two down in the ninth, Hrdlicka hit a 2-2 pitch over the right field fence for his second home run of the year to cut Fort Hays' lead to 9-8.

Up Next
- The Bearcats have secured a spot in the 2016 MIAA Baseball Championship Tournament. Northwest will be the No. 8 seed in the tournament which starts on Thursday, May 12, at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo.