MARYVILLE, Mo. - The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team was relentless in its 12-5 series-clinching victory over the Emporia State University Hornets on Friday afternoon.

Northwest scored the final seven runs of the game in the final two innings after Emporia State had rallied to tie the game at 5-5 in the top of the seventh.

Northwest evened its season record at 24-24 and clinched a .500 record of better in the MIAA by moving to 18-17 in league play. ESU fell to 23-23 overall and 16-19 in league action.

Alex Bowers went 3-for-4 and scored three runs in the nine hole in the lineup, while Ryan Williams went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI to power the top of the order.

Connor Polli gained the win in relief as he improved to 3-0 on the season. Leonardo May worked two scoreless innings for his second save of the season.

Jacob Selock led off the third inning with a homer to give Northwest a 1-0 lead. It was Selock's 10th home run of the season and 22nd of his Bearcat career. 

ESU knotted it up at 1-1 in the top of the fourth on a double by catcher TJ Racherbaumer. Racherbaumer advanced to third on a wild pitch and was awarded home on a balk by Bearcat starting pitcher Jaren Guck.

The Hornets took a two-run advantage in the top of the fifth on the strength of three singles and a hit batter.

The Bearcats answered in the bottom half of the fifth to retake the lead. Sam Wornson led off with a walk. Max Pawela laced a single to right to move Wornson to third. Alex Bowers reached on a fielder's choice to drive in Wornson to slice the ESU lead to 3-2. Dylan Hufft gained his place on the base paths on an error by ESU third baseman Dominic Felix. Williams belted a two-run double to left center to score Bowers and Hufft that lifted the Bearcats to a 4-3 advantage. Chester Brooks tacked on a two-out RBI-single to left field to score Williams and give Northwest a 5-3 cushion.

ESU would get one back in the sixth before Racherbaumer launched a solo homer to right field off Polli to even the score at 5-5 with a one-out blast in the seventh.

However, the Bearcats did not miss a beat in their final two chances at the dish. Bowers led off the seventh with a double down the left field line. Hufft advanced him to third on a sacrifice bunt. Williams posted his second double of the game to plate Bowers for the go-ahead RBI. The Hornets intentionally walked Ashton Neuman. First baseman Kaehukai Young, who was 0-for-3, launched a two-out, two run double off the wall in left center to score Neuman and Williams to give Northwest an 8-5 lead. It was Young's 20th hit this season with two outs.

May entered to begin the eighth and worked a 1-2-3 inning to get the Bearcat bats back in action.

The eighth started quietly with Max Pawela fouling out to the catcher and Selock striking out. But the Bearcats scored four runs with two out to blow the game wide open. Bowers reached for the fourth time with his third hit of the game, a single to right field. Hufft gained his first hit of the game on a hot shot to shortstop to put runners at the corners. Williams tallied his third hit of the game and fourth RBI to put Northwet on top, 9-5. Neuman put the finishing touches on the scoring with a two-out, three-run home run for a 12-5 advantage. It was Neuman's team-leading 12th home run of the season. Neuman has posted a team-leading 26 two-out RBI this season.

Northwest will go for the series sweep on Saturday. First pitch is set for Noon with the pre-game senior day festivities slated for approximately 11:30 a.m.

NOTES: Ryan Williams has collected 19 doubles to rank tied for the third-highest total in a single season in program history ... his 19 doubles are tied for the second most this year in the MIAA ... Williams has 45 career doubles, which ranks as the fifth-best career total in Bearcat history ... Williams has earned 121 career RBI, which ranks No. 8 in school history ... Williams has 19 multi-hit games this year and seven three-hit contests ... Williams has 17 multi-RBI games this year ... Williams has reached base in 19 straight games ... Neuman's 12 home runs are tied for the 10th-best single-season total in school history ... Bowers has nine multi-hit games this year and two three-hit contests ... Northwest has scored double-digit runs in 17 games this year ... Northwest has put up back-to-back double-digit run games against the Hornets ... Northwest is guaranteed to finish at .500 or better in the MIAA for the first time since the 2019 season ... Northwest has won six MIAA series' this season after clinching the series victory over Emporia State.