MARYVILLE, Mo. – Sophomore Sam Wornson delivered a game-high five RBIs, including a solo homer in the seventh and a walk-off grand slam in the tenth, to power the Northwest Missouri State baseball team (18-18, 12-11 MIAA) to a thrilling 10-6 victory over Newman (8-27, 4-21 MIAA) in Friday's series opener.

Dylan Hufft and Kaehukai Young each recorded three-hit performances to pace the Bearcat offense. 

Brock Steggall (4-2) earned the win, tossing the final two innings with just one hit allowed and a pair of strikeouts. Jaren Guck, Jayme Fritts, Kayden Cook and Connor Polli all logged innings in the contest. 

Starter Guck escaped an early jam in the first, keeping the Jets off the board. Offensively, the Bearcats stranded eight runners through the first three innings, with Parker Griffith breaking through with their first hit in the third.

Young broke the scoreless tie with a two-out RBI double in the fourth, scoring Hufft, who beat out an infield single. Hufft added another RBI in the sixth with a squeeze bunt to plate Alex Bowers, giving Northwest a 3-1 lead.

After Newman cut the deficit to one in the seventh, Wornson launched a solo shot to push it to 4-2. Ashton Neuman followed with a two-RBI double to make it 6-2. The Jets rallied in the eighth with a game-tying grand slam from Anthony Cannavino.

Steggall took over in the ninth and held Newman scoreless through the final two frames. 

Northwest threatened in the ninth but couldn't convert. In the tenth, Hufft and Young singled before a balk advanced both runners. After Chester Brooks drew a walk to load the bases, Wornson crushed his second home run of the day—a walk-off grand slam—to cap a 10-6 series-opening victory. 
 
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Northwest will honor the 50th Anniversary of the 1975 World Series team for game two scheduled for 2 p.m., on Saturday, April 12 at Bearcat Baseball Field.