ATCHISON, Kan. – The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team tallied a 10-2 non-conference win Tuesday over the Benedictine Ravens at Olsen Stadium.
 
Northwest moved to 8-7, while Benedictine dropped to 6-9. Northwest reached 10 or more runs for the sixth time in 2024.
 
The top four spots in the Bearcat order combined for 11 of their 13 hits and nine RBI. Caden Diel led the way with a four-hit attack and he and Trey Morris each knocked in three runs.
 
The Bearcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead only two batters into the contest. Cole Slibowski singled to right center and Caden Diel followed with a two-run home run to right center.
 
The Ravens answered with a two-out rally in the bottom half of the first to draw even at 2-2.
 
Brady Miles was credited with a sacrifice fly in the third as he brought in Slibowski with two outs to give Northwest a 3-2 advantage.
 
Slibowski reached for the third time in three plate appearances in the fourth with an RBI single that scored Kaehukai Young. Diel delivered an RBI-single to right to score Max Pawela to give Northwest a 5-2 lead. Trey Morris was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in Slibowski which upped the 'Cats lead to 6-2 through in the fourth.
 
Bearcat starter Connor Polli worked four innings and allowed six hits and two runs (both earned). He struck out two Ravens and did not walk a batter.
 
Northwest added on in the sixth courtesy of two errors from Raven first baseman Jaden Zimmerman. Jacob Selock reached on an error leading off the inning. He moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Slibowski. He took third on a wild pitch and then scored on the second error of the inning by Zimmerman. Selock's run put the Bearcats on top, 7-2.
 
The Bearcats made it 8-2 on sac fly from Parker Griffith. Diel singled, for his fourth hit of the game, to lead off the inning and moved up to second on a wild pitch. He moved to third on a groundout before eventually scoring on a fly ball from Griffith.
 
Northwest tacked on two insurance runs in the ninth when Morris delivered a two-out, two-RBI single to center. Morris's hit brought home Jake Emhardt and Slibowski to complete the scoring on the day for the Bearcats.
 
Reliever George Fisher (1-0) made his Bearcat debut and tossed a pair of scoreless frames in the fifth and sixth. Fisher faced six batters and retired all six.
 
Garrett Stoll pitched the seventh and allowed one hit with two walks but did not allow a run.
 
Jayme Fritts worked a scoreless eighth as he struck out two Raven batters.
 
Jake Ciafullo allowed a walk and a runner to reach on an error as he recorded a scoreless ninth inning on the mound.
 
The Bearcats will be back in MIAA action this weekend on the road at Pittsburg State.
 
NOTES: Diel notched his first career four-hit game … Diel extended his hitting streak to five straight games … Diel has posted two or more hits in five consecutive games … Diel has seven multi-hit games this season … Noah Bodenhausen extended his streak of consecutive games reached base to 14 in a row … Slibowski went 3-for-4 in the leadoff spot for his third three-hit game of the season.