Box Score

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Northeastern State baseball team lost 12-11 Thursday afternoon to Missouri Western State University in the quarterfinals of the 2014 MIAA Championship at Hammons Field.
 
The RiverHawks (26-27), seeded No. 8 in the tournament and winners of two straight against No. 1 Central Missouri in the opening round, moved to the loser's side of the draw and will meet either No. 2 Emporia State or No. 3 Central Oklahoma in the loser's bracket semifinals at 10 a.m. May 9.
 
The No. 4 seeded Griffons advanced to the winner's bracket finals against the ESU/UCO winner. That game will be contested at 1:30 p.m. May 9 for the right to advance to the championship series.
 
NSU came out jittery and fell victim to a costly first-inning error that allowed MWSU to take a quick 2-0 lead. The Griffons added a third run in the third frame.
 
Northeastern State was finally able to strike in the sixth, beginning with a double from true freshman Bryce Davenport that plated sophomore Cody Begovich. Instead of simply trading places with his teammate, senior Cody Robinson decided to tie the game up with his NCAA-leading 18th home run of the season.
 
The visitors on the scoreboard looked to have swung the momentum in their favor, but a six-run home half of the third from the Griffons quickly halted that talk. MWSU tacked on two more in the seventh and one more in the eighth to pull ahead 12-3 to enter the final frame with what seemed to be an insurmountable advantage.
 
Senior Kyle Singleton led off the top of the ninth with a single up the middle, and he later scored on a single from redshirt freshman Caleb Hill. Sophomore Andrew Walker registered NSU's third hit of the inning to chase MWSU starting pitcher Grant Woods, and the Griffons trotted out Banks Born with a seven-run lead. Born gave up three hits and allowed six runners to score on his watch. He was sat down after allowing a home run to Singleton, and Mason Queen earned a one-pitch save when senior Ryan Staggs grounded out to end the game in his second at-bat in the inning.
 
Robinson led NSU with a 3-for-5 effort at the plate. He drove home three and scored twice. The only other member of the team with multiple hits was Singleton, who finished 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and two RBI.
 
Junior Kyle Shambaugh (2-5) conceded seven runs (just one earned) on five hits across 5.2 frames. He struck out five and walked three. True freshman Zack Hammock, junior Hayden Walch and redshirt freshman Zach Poehl also pitched in the contest.
 
Woods (6-2) lasted 8.0 innings and gave up seven runs on eight hits. Born officially allowed four runs on three hits with a walk in 0.2 innings.
 
Dylan Koch and David Chew both had three hits for MWSU. Koch scored four times, and Chew drove home three. Trevor LaHonta was also 1-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored.
 
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