TAHLEQUAH, OK --- Northeastern State's Colton Burgess and Zack Henderson each belted a home run and collected three RBI as the RiverHawks earned the 12-8 victory over Northwest Missouri State on a windy afternoon at Rousey Field here Saturday.

NSU improves to 2-10 on the year and most importantly 1-1 in MIAA conference action.

On a day with the wind blowing out, the RiverHawks took advantage as eight different players collected hits and four players had home runs.

Trailing 1-0 after two innings, NSU plated four runs in the third inning.  Michael Conn and Alex Brough drew free passes and Blake Freeman's single tied the game at 1-1. Burgess then cleared the bases with his second home run of the year giving the RiverHawks a 4-1 lead.

Northwest Missouri countered with two runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth regaining a 6-4 lead.

The RiverHawks regained control in the fifth inning.  Erick Espinosa and Burgess opened with back to back singles and Jaxon Phipps sacrifice fly cut the Bearcat lead to 6-5. Wes O'Neill drew a free pass and Henderson cleared the bases with his first home run of the year giving NSU an 8-6 lead.

Northeastern State would not relinquish the lead only adding to it.  The RiverHawks plated one in the sixth inning, Gabe Simons who was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle collected his first home in the seventh and Phipps first home run of the year in the eighth propelled NSU to a 12-8 victory.

Jonathan Smithey got the start for the RiverHawks going four and two-thirds innings allowing six hits while striking out seven.  Reliever Nolan Sturgeon was credited with the victory moving his record to 1-1 after facing just two batters on the day.  Trevor Nance picked up his first save of the year.

Northeastern State and Northwest Missouri will close out the three-game series on Sunday with a nine-inning affair.  First pitch is slated for 1:00 p.m.