TAHLEQUAH –  No. 25 ranked Northeastern State is advancing in the MIAA Tournament after handing Rogers State a 5-2 defeat Sunday in game two of the best-of-three quarterfinal series  

The RiverHawks hit three homers and never trailed the Hillcats. 

Blaze Brothers sent one over the left field wall in the first, and Collin Klingensmith hit his 12th home run of the season in the second to give NSU a 2-0 lead.  Matt Kaiser extended the lead to three with a ground ball RBI out in the third. 

RSU, who went into the fifth without a hit, managed to find the outfield with back-to-back base knocks with two outs.  A double cut the NSU lead back down to a pair. 

Brock Reller took a ball to left field on the third pitch of his at-bat for his 26th homer of the season, extending the NSU advantage back to three. 

The Hillcats threatened in the eighth after opening the frame up with back-to-back hits to put runners on second and third.  Northeastern State would concede a run on a ground ball, with the Hillcats following up with back-to-back punchouts to end the threat. 

In the bottom half of the inning, Blake Freeman added an insurance run on a fielder's choice with the bases loaded.

Rogers State (26-25) would manage to get a runner on, but it would be with two-outs as they would see their season end on a ground ball to third base. 

Northeastern State had 12 hits, with Reller reaching in his first three at-bats of the day.  Dylan Hight, Freeman, and Klingensmith all had two base hits for NSU, who improved to 36-14 on the year.

Jonathan Smithey (7-2) went seven strong innings with just one earned run given up and five strikeouts.   Jake Bigham closed the game for his sixth save of the season. 

The remainder of the tournament in Edmond is double-elimination, with the RiverHawks playing Pittsburg State Thursday at 4 p.m.