HAYS, Kan. – The Northeastern State baseball team fell 10-7 to Fort Hays State in the weekend MIAA series opener Friday night at Larks Park.
 
The RiverHawks dropped to 15-13 overall and 9-9 in the MIAA, while the Tigers improved to 14-15 on the year and 8-10 in the league.
 
NSU led 7-2 after batting in the fourth inning, but the visitors would not score again and FHSU scored the final eight runs of the game to capture the opener.
 
Senior Gabriel Wurth was 3-for-5 to pace the green and white at the plate. Senior Shane Bridges, senior Eric Kirkpatrick and junior Dakota Woods all finished with two hits. Bridges drove home two and junior Bryce Davenport tallied three RBI and one run scored on the strength of his fifth home run of the year. Senior Cody Begovich went 0-for-4 but managed to score twice.
 
Junior starting pitcher Jeremy Mansur was unable to make it past the fifth inning for his fourth-straight start. He took a no-decision after conceding seven runs on 10 hits in 4.1 frames. Junior Zach Poehl (1-1) suffered the loss after allowing three runs on seven hits across 2.2 frames. Junior Thomas Murray saw the mound for one inning and did not allow a hit or a run.
 
The Tigers received a stellar pitching performance from D.J. Carr (3-3), who went the full 9.0 innings to earn the victory. He allowed seven runs on 12 hits, while striking out six and walking just two.
 
Caleb Cherryholmes and Connor Ross were both 3-for-5 to pace Fort Hays State. Ty Redington, Austin Unrein, Alex Weiss and Alex King all had two hits each. Unrein drove home three runs and scored twice, while Cherryholmes amassed two RBI and two runs. Cherryholmes, Unrein and King all hit home runs.
 
The second game of the series is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. April 2.
 
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