TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team suffered an 8-3 loss to the Northeastern State University RiverHawks Sunday at Rousey Field.
Senior
Ryan Koski put the Bearcats on top 2-0 in the first inning when he punished a ball over the right-field wall for a two-run blast.
Cole Slibowski led off the game with a single, which extended his streak of consecutive games reached to 17 in a row.
The RiverHawks got a single run back in the bottom half of the first on three singles. NSU would draw even at 2-2 on a triple and a groundout in the bottom of the fifth.
Northwest took a 3-2 lead when
Noah Bodenhausen popped up with the bases loaded, but
Ryan Williams scored on the play.
NSU took a 5-3 advantage in the bottom of the sixth when the home squad benefitted from three runs on four hits – two singles and two doubles.
Bearcat starting pitcher
Zach Wiese departed with one out in the fifth as the RiverHawks mounted a comeback. Wiese pitched 5 1/3 innings and struck out five. He gave up four runs (all earned) while he scattered six hits. Wiese did not walk a batter.
The RiverHawks took advantage of a double and a single in the seventh to move the lead to 6-3. NSU tacked on a two-run home run from Coby Tweten in the eighth to raise the margin to 8-3.
The Bearcat offense struggled to get going by securing only four hits on the day. After getting two first-inning hits, Northwest managed only two other hits the rest of the way.
Trey Morris added a one-out single in the fourth and Slibowski notched a two-out single in the fifth.
Northwest falls to 5-21 overall and 3-12 in MIAA play. NSU moves to 12-14 overall and 6-9 in league action.
The Bearcats and RiverHawks will wrap up the three-game series Monday with a single game at 12 p.m. at Rousey Field.
NOTES: Koski's homer was his team-leading seventh home run of the season … Koski has belted 16 career dingers for the Bearcats … Slibowski has collected a team-best nine multi-hit games this season … Slibowski leads the squad with 31 hits on the year.
