WARRENSBURG, Mo. – Northeastern State saw its baseball season come to an end on Saturday evening with a 3-1 loss at the hands of rivals No. 25 Central Oklahoma at the MIAA Tournament.  

The meeting was the fifth this season between the RiverHawks and Bronchos with the series split heading into Saturday's elimination game.

Just two days ago Northeastern State handed Central Oklahoma a 4-2 loss in a first round upset between the league's top and lowest seed. 

Northeastern State held onto a razor thin 1-0 lead through the first five innings with its lone run coming off the bat of Tristan Ridenour on a sac fly.

In the sixth, Central Oklahoma opened the inning with a pair of hits to place runners on second and third.  On a full count, UCO tied the game with a sac fly to right field, and then singled in the eventual winning run on a single down the left field line.

The Bronchos picked up an insurance run in the ninth scoring their third run on another sac fly.  

Trailing by two runs in the bottom of the ninth, Northeastern State managed to get the tying run on second with no outs.  However, back-to-back strikeouts killed the threat, with the game ending on a fly ball.

Northeastern State was out-hit 12-to-5 and left eight runners on-base in the loss.  James Cowell started the game and tossed three scoreless innings, Lane Rice (5-2) was the pitch of record and went 4 2/3 frames for the RiverHawks out of the bullpen. 

NSU's season ends with a 28-24 record which was the program's best record since 2013.