TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State Baseball made a valiant effort down three runs in the bottom of the ninth but fell to Central Missouri 6-5 at Thomas C. Rousey Field Sunday afternoon.
The RiverHawks pitching staff allowed just two earned runs in the rubber game and the bats rallied back from a 6-1 deficit in the seventh.
Blaze Brothers had two home runs and drove in three. All of NSU's runs against UCM were earned.
UCM, a team known for speed and power tried to bunt its way on twice in the opening frame but RiverHawks starter
Jonathan Smithey (3-2) and third baseman
Jaxon Phipps made two athletic plays to keep the Mules in the dugout.
In the bottom of the second, NSU had its first chance of the day to jump in front. The bottom of the lineup loaded the bases on two singles and a hit by pitch but the RiverHawks left them loaded. Combined the teams left 16 runners on base.
Blaze Brothers crushed a no-doubt home run high over the left field wall to lead off the bottom of the third and put the first run of the game on the scoreboard. NSU put three runners on later in the frame but none could round the bases.
Blake Freeman's 16th double of the season surpassed Brothers on put him in the top-7 nationally.
Smithey allowed a leadoff home run to start the fourth frame as the rain started to fall. Following an unearned run on an errant throw looking to catch the runner stealing third a strikeout limited the UCM damage to two runs.
The Mules got runners on the corners to start the fifth before an interference call limited the damage to just a lone run via a sacrifice fly.
UCM added another run on a double and single in the sixth off reliever
Lee Callison. After two outs in the seventh the Mules had five batters reach on two singles up the middle, two walks and a
Collin Klingensmith error. UCM took a 6-1 lead with their best bullpen arms yet to toe the muddy rubber.
Northeastern State loaded the bases in the bottom half with two outs before Klingensmith singled to center to plate two.
Both relievers pitched clean eighth frames to bring the closers into play for the ninth.
Dakodah Jones allowed two Mules to get into scoring position with two outs in the top of the inning and got a popup to bring NSU to the plate. It was his first appearance in eight games without striking out a batter.
With one out,
Reid Fehr wore a pitch to the hand to get on base ahead of Brothers. The RiverHawks' second baseman his team-leading ninth home run on a laser shot over the left field wall to put the score to the eventual 6-5.
Brayden Rodden then singled and Klingensmith drew a walk to put the tying run in scoring position. The Mules' closer was able to record the last two outs after taking the loss in the second game of yesterday's doubleheader.
With the setback, Northeastern State drops to 24-13 (21-9 in MIAA) while No. 3 Central Missouri pushes their record to 31-6 (27-3 in MIAA). The conference standings remain the same with the teams ranked one and two, respectively.
By taking one game in the series NSU secured a top-four seed in the MIAA Tournament and will host the first round for the first time as a member of the conference. The RiverHawks will close the regular season Friday and Saturday with Central Oklahoma visiting Thomas C. Rousey Field.
