TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State closed out its conference play with an exclamation point Sunday with its largest scoring outburst of the season and beat Newman 22-5 in seven innings. The win clinched NSU the six seed in next weekend's MIAA opening round and will play the three seed Washburn in Topkea in a best-of-three-game series next weekend.
The 22 runs scored is the highest total this season in MIAA action, with
Isaiah Keller having a ten RBI weekend against the Jets.
The RiverHawks hammered Newman in their first at-bats and sent 11 batters to the plate to score seven runs.
Blake Freeman highlighted the outburst with a no-doubt grand slam home down the right-field line. Keller also had a two-RBI single to center.
Newman (22-28, 14-19 MIAA) gathered a run back in the second, scoring a bases-loaded walk, and cut into NSU lead in the fourth by three runs to make a 7-4 ballgame. The RiverHawks returned the favor in the bottom half after loading the bases with no outs; they scored three runs extending their lead back out to six.
Runs continued to pour for NSU in the fifth, and they hung a seven spot on the scoreboard for the second time. Keller capped the inning with a two-run homer that skied over the right-field fence. Northeastern State kept the gas pedal down and added five more runs in the sixth inning.
The RiverHawks out-hit the Jets 18-to-8, with Keller having a six RBI day,
C.D. White going 4-for-6 at the plate, and Freeman having five RBI.
Matt Kaiser and
Kademon Graff both had a three RBI game.
Kyle Duffey (2-1) earned the win in relief, going 2.1 innings and having four strikeouts.
Kender Carroll struck out three batters in the seventh.
Northeastern State closes its regular season Tuesday at 5 p.m. with Oklahoma Baptist.
