Monday, Feb. 22 | 11 a.m.
Northwest Missouri State vs. Minot State
LIVE STATS

Tuesday, Feb. 23 | 11 a.m.
Northwest Missouri State vs. Minot State
LIVE STATS

Tuesday, Feb. 23 | 2 p.m.
Northwest Missouri State at Pittsburg State
LIVE STATS

The Northwest Missouri State University Bearcat baseball team will make its season debut Monday at 11 a.m. against Minot State University in Pittsburg, Kansas.
 
The Bearcats will also face the Beavers on Tuesday at 11 a.m. before taking on the Pittsburg State Gorillas at 2 p.m. to wrap up play in the Pittsburg State Invitational.
 
In last year's COVID-shortened season, Connor Quick batted .432 with 16 runs scored, 14 RBI and two homers. Quick had a .581 slugging percentage and recorded at least one hit in 17 of the 20 contests. Quick had nine multi-hit games, including a four-hit performance against Northeastern State.
 
Northwest returns four position players that hit .300 or higher in 2020. Ryan Koski hit .318 with 14 hits and nine RBI in 16 games. Matt Gastner hit .316 with 25 hits, 16 runs, 20 RBI and a team-best six home runs in 19 starts. Jacob Pinkerton hit .306 with 26 hits, 15 runs and stole a team-high five bases in 20 starts.
 
The Bearcats return a pair of starting pitchers in Spencer Hanson and Max Spitzmiller. In six starts, Hanson went 1-3 with a 5.85 ERA and struck out 25 batters. Spitzmiller struck out a team-high 27 batters and went 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA in six starts.
 
Reliever Alex Slocum returns with the lowest ERA among pitchers with at least 10 innings of action last season. Slocum went 3-2 with a 3.97 ERA in 11 1/3 innings of work. Slocum struck out eight batters and allowed only five earned runs, while limiting the opposition to a .256 batting average.
 
Northwest was 7-4 when scoring six runs or more in 2020. However, Northwest went 0-9 when it scored five runs or less last season. Northwest was 6-1 when leading after six innings in 2020.
 
Head coach Darin Loe has been the skipper of the Bearcat baseball program since 2000. Loe is Northwest's all-time wins leader with 526 victories. He enters the 2021 season needing 18 more wins to reach 700 career coaching wins.