JOPLIN, Mo. – Northeastern State could not recover from a three-run opening frame by Missouri Southern dropped a 9-6 contest on Sunday afternoon in MIAA play.Â
The RiverHawks (8-7, 1-4 MIAA) outhit the Lions (13-2, 2-0 MIAA) 13-to-10 but Southern would score their runs in bunches to win their tenth in a row.
Four of the RiverHawks' runs came from the long ball with
Jaxon Phipps leaving the yard twice, and
Erick Espinosa hitting one in the third.  However, two of the homers came with the bases empty, while Phipps' homer in the fifth was two run shot.
The RiverHawks left 12 runners stranded on-base Sunday and in three frames, NSU had two runners on with one out.
Trailing 9-4 in the ninth,
Derek Shedden doubled in a pair of runs with one out to trim the MSSU lead to three. With the tying run on-deck, Northeastern State grounded out, and struck out to end the contest.
James Cowell (0-1) made his first start in nearly two seasons and went four innings;
Trevor Nance and
Josh Limes also tossed just over two frames each in relief duty.
Northeastern State will look to avoid a series sweep on Monday with a first pitch scheduled at noon.
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