Game 1 Box Score  I  Game 2 Box Score

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State baseball team lost two games to No. 16 Missouri Southern State University on Senior Day Sunday afternoon at Rousey Field.

The RiverHawks (25-22, 17-19 MIAA) lost 5-2 in the first game before the Lions (36-11, 26-6 MIAA) took game two 11-6 to win the series 3-1.

Senior Preston Cash (3-for-8) and sophomore Caleb Hill (1-for-3) each hit their second home runs of the series in the second game on Sunday. Junior Gabriel Wurth (4-for-7) and Junior Charles Sims (2-for-8) finished the day with multiple hits.

As a result of the series, NSU clinched the No. 8 seed in the MIAA championship, while MSSU clinched the No. 1 seed. The two teams will face each other in a best-of-three-game series in Joplin, Missouri. The first and second games will be at 6 p.m.
April 30 and May 1 respectively. If a third game is necessary, it will begin at 1 p.m. May 2.

MISSOURI SOUTHERN STATE 5, NORTHEASTERN STATE 2
The Lions scored one run in both the first and second innings on RBI singles by Jacob Bryant and Richie Gorskie.

MSSU plated an additional run in the sixth inning when Chad Shannon hit an RBI single to center field.

NSU got two runs back in the bottom of the sixth inning. Wurth and Senior Tyler Wilkins both hit RBI singles to close the score to 3-2.  

Missouri Southern State added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning on an RBI walk and a balk with the bases loaded.

Senior Kyle Shambaugh (6-1) took the loss for the RiverHawks. He conceded three runs on six hits in 5.1 innings of work. Senior Clay Debban threw 1.0 innings in relief, allowing two runs on two hits. Jake Kern threw 0.2 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two.

MISSOURI SOUTHERN STATE 11, NORTHEASTERN STATE 6
Missouri Southern jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an Axel Johnson RBI single through the left side.

The Lions added two runs in the top of the second inning when Osburn hit a two-run home run.

The RiverHawks closed the gap to 3-2 in the bottom of the second inning when Hill hit his own two-run homer down the left field line. NSU then tied up the game in the third inning on a RBI double by Sims.

MSSU retook the lead 4-3 in the top of the fifth inning before the green and white brought three across in the bottom of the inning via a Cash three-run home run to take a 6-4 lead.

The Lions scored five runs in the seventh inning to lead 9-6 and plated two additional insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning to push the final score to 11-6.

Sophomore Bobby Sehgal started the game for the RiverHawks on the mound. He threw 3.0 innings, allowing three runs on four hits. Sophomore Zach Poehl threw 2.0 innings in relief, giving up one run on two hits, while Senior Waylon Davis threw 1.1 innings, conceding two runs on three hits. Senior Hayden Walch (1-2) took the loss for NSU, throwing 0.1 innings and allowing three runs on two hits. Debban threw 0.1 innings, allowing one hit. Senior Cayle Shambaugh threw the final 2.0 innings. He conceded two runs (zero earned) on one hit.
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH TRAVIS JANSSEN
Initial statement...
"I thought we competed pretty well. We competed better this weekend than we did last weekend. We still weren't good enough to win the series. That's disappointing, and there's a lot of reasons we didn't win, but to put it really simply, they played better than we did. Missouri Southern is a really sound team, a really solid team. They don't make a lot of mistakes and they are experienced. They did a good job winning the series. We're just looking forward to the postseason and moving on from here."

On strong starting pitching...
"I thought for the most part we did pretty good. We know we play Thursday and its a quick turnaround, so we did a couple of things to adjust to that. We might have left Bobby Sehgal in a little longer if we didn't think we would need him Thursday. Ryan Helsley gave us a good start, Kyle Shambaugh gave us a good start and Dustin Berrong did fine. We got out of the gates pretty good and you just wish you could have finished that last game a little better."

On having to play Missouri Southern again...
"In college baseball you usually don't play back-to-back series, so its kind of weird. They'll know us and we'll know them. If we can play like we did the majority of the year, we should have a pretty good chance to compete with them."

-GoRiverHawksGo.com-