The Northwest Missouri State baseball team beat Missouri Southern, 7-6, on Friday on a ninth inning walk-off single at Bearcat Field in Maryville, Mo.
– Garrett Fort delivered his third hit of the day in the ninth, driving in the winning run to give the Bearcats the opening game of the three-game series.
– Northwest improves to 22-10 overall and 11-8 in the MIAA. Missouri Southern falls to 20-16 overall and 12-10 in conference play.
– Fort drove in two runs in the game, going 3-for-6 with a stolen base.
Key Northwest Statistics
– Northwest scored three in the second, one in the third, one in the fifth, one in the sixth and one in the ninth. The Lions had one in the first, one in the fourth and four in the fifth.
– The Bearcats had seven runs on 11 hits with no errors. Missouri Southern scored six runs on 11 hits with three errors.
– Landon Figg went 2-for-2 with two runs scored, three walks and an RBI. He hit his second home run of the year in the third inning.
– Kolby Greenslade was 2-for-5 with a run scored.
– Luke Hassman drove in a run, going 1-for-5.
– James Holler was 1-for-5 with an RBI.
– Ozzie Adams scored once and went 1-for-5 on the day.
– Anthony Caenepeel got the start on the mound in a no decision, going 6.0 innings. He did not issue a walk while striking out nine in the game.
– Quintin Van Ackeren, Jacob Wagner, Austin Battaglia combined to throw 2.0 innings of scoreless relief.
– Van Ackeren allowed just one hit and a walk. Wagner and Battaglia each recorded a strikeout.
– Nikko Pablo worked a scoreless ninth inning, allowing one hit. He picked up his fourth win of the season.
Key Northwest Innings
– A pair of Lion miscues allowed Northwest to score three times in the second. With one down, Hrdlicka drew a walk after an eight-pitch at bat. After a flyout, Greenslade hit an infield single to short to put runners on first and second. Rycraft hit a sharp grounder that went under the third baseman’s glove for an error, scoring Hrdlica from second. Fort then hit a single to right center to drive in Greenslade. With runners on the corners, MSSU tried to pick Fort off of first but the attempt got past the first baseman, allowing Rycraft to score on the error.
– Figg led off the third inning with his second home run of the year, a blast over the right field fence to make it 4-1 Bearcats.
– With one down in the fifth, Figg hit a one out single and went to second on a wild pitch. After a flyout, Holler came up with an RBI single to center, driving in Figg to make it 6-5 Southern.
– Adams hit a two-out single in the sixth and went to second on a passed ball. Figg drew a nine-pitch walk to put two runners on. Hassman came through with an RBI single to left, tying the game, 6-6.
– With one down in the ninth, Handzlik hit a slow grounder back to the pitcher, but an errant throw allowed Handzlik to reach safely and take second base. Northwest went to the bench and pinch ran Joseph Curtis for Handzlik. Greenslade hit an infield single that got past the third baseman to put two on with one out. After a flyout, a wild pitch allowed both runners to move up to second and third. Fort worked a full count and delivered a walk-off RBI single to right field.
Up Next
– The second game of the series will start at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
— Northwest Athletics —
