WICHITA, Kan. – The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team got hot from the top of the lineup to the bottom in a 20-5 thrashing of the Newman University Jets Saturday at McCarthy Field.
 
Northwest picked up its fifth MIAA win of the season and moved its season mark to 7-23 overall. Newman dropped to 14-19 overall and 8-11 in league action.
 
All nine Bearcat starters tallied at least one hit in the game and battered the Newman staff for 16 total hits. Northwest scored a season-high 20 runs besting its previous effort of 12 against Minnesota State and Northeastern State. The Bearcats drew a season-high 11 walks off Jet pitching.
 
Cole Slibowski led off the game with a single to center. Slibowski moved to third on a single to center by Alex Bowers. Slibowski scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Ryan Koski to give Northwest a 1-0 lead.
 
The Jets answered back in the bottom half of the first with a pair of doubles to tie the game at 1-1.
 
The Bearcats batted around in the second and plated five runs on only two hits. Caden Diel began the five-run outburst with a homer. Layne Shiers struck out but reached on a wild pitch. He then moved up to second and third on wild pitches. Shiers scored on a sac fly from Jacob Selock. Three straight walks to Slibowski, Bowers and Koski loaded the bases. Trey Morris delivered a two-run single to center to give the Bearcats a 5-1 lead. Parker Griffith reached on an error by the Newman third baseman that allowed Slibowski to tally the fifth run of the inning.
 
Northwest batted around again in the third which resulted in four runs and a 10-1 lead. Shiers singled to lead off the third. He stole second after a pair of fly outs to center. Shiers advanced to third on a balk. Slibowski drew a walk and then stole second. Bowers earned a base on balls to load the bases full of Bearcats. Koski came through with a two-run single to left that scored Slibowski and Shiers. Morris walked to reload the bases. Griffith greeted the newest Newman pitcher Justin Durnil with a two-run single to right that plated Koski and Bowers for a 10-1 Northwest advantage.
 
For the third straight inning, Northwest batted around in the fourth to plate four more runs and increase the advantage to 14-1. Shiers led off with a single to right and stole second. Max Pawela drove home Shiers with a single to center. Selock singled to put runners on first and second. Slibowski put down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. Bowers singled to left to score both Selock and Pawela. Koski singled to center which allowed Bowers to move over to third. Morris singled home Bowers to make it 14-1 in favor of the Bearcats.
 
Newman got a run back in the fourth on a solo home run to cut the lead to 14-2.
 
Northwest batted around for the fourth consecutive inning in the fifth. Northwest tacked on six more runs before an out was recorded by the Jets. The first eight Bearcats reached base safely in the fifth. Shiers began the inning by earning a walk. Pawela followed with a walk and Selock was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Slibowski drove in a run when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Bowers drew a bases loaded walk to make it 16-2. Koski ripped a three-run triple to center to take the score to 19-2. Morris worked a walk before Griffith singled to left to plate Koski for the 20-2 advantage.
 
Newman scored off a leadoff triple and sacrifice bunt in the fifth to cut the lead to 20-3.
 
The Jets would trim two more runs off the lead in the sixth to chase Bearcat starter Alex Slocum from the contest. Slocum went 5 2/3 innings and allowed five runs (all earned) on eight hits. Slocum struck out five and walked two. Slocum gained the win to move to 2-4 on the season.
 
Jaxson Meyer got the final four outs of the contest for the Bearcat pitching staff. Meyer struck out three while allowing one hit. Meyer did not allow a run in helping secure the Bearcat victory.
 
Northwest and Newman will meet Sunday in the rubber match of the series with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. at McCarthy Field.
 
NOTES: Northwest is the seventh MIAA school to score at least 20 runs in a game this season ... Northwest is the third league school to plate 20 or more in an MIAA contest this year joining Central Missouri (21 vs. Washburn – March 31) and Missouri Southern (20 vs. Pittsburg State – Feb. 25) … Northwest reached 20 runs in an MIAA game for the first time since a 20-10 win over Nebraska-Kearney on March 13, 2015 … Northwest's previous 20-run outburst came in a 22-7 victory over Ottawa on April 7, 2021 … Cole Slibowski extended his reached base streak to 21 consecutive games … Trey Morris moved his hitting streak to eight … Ryan Koski knocked in a team-high six runs as he went 3-for-4 with three runs scored … Koski upped his career RBI total to 107, which tied him for the ninth-best career total in Bearcat history … Koski equaled the career totals of John White (2004-07) and Eric McGlauflin (2011-14) … Alex Bowers went 2-for-3 with three RBI and four runs scored … Trey Morris went 3-for-4 with two walks and three RBI … Parker Griffith went 2-for-5 with three RBI … Layne Shiers scored four runs … Cole Slibowski also scored four runs.