TAHLEQUAH –Northeastern State heads to Warrensburg, Mo. for the remainder of the MIAA Baseball Championships, where they will face Missouri Southern in the semifinal round at 4 p.m. Thursday. 

The RiverHawks (24-26) took the final meeting of the three-game series in Joplin when the teams met in the regular season, and three errors allowed four runs to cross home in an 8-7 setback in the middle game. 

The semifinal appearance is the third overall and second consecutive for the RiverHawks, who are the lowest remaining seed in the tournament field at No. 6.  All of the top-three seeds remain in the field, with Missouri Southern finishing runner-up in the MIAA standings. 

Northeastern State will need to win the MIAA Tournament for the first time to make its second consecutive trip to the NCAA postseason.  The RiverHawks were not on the NCAA Central Region rankings and can't qualify as an at-large with a sub-.500 record. 

Win or loss, the RiverHawks will face either Central Missouri or Pittsburg State Friday.  Northeastern State is 1-2 this season against UCM and was swept by Pittsburg State.

Blake Freeman is third overall among active NCAA Division II baseball players with 300 hits and seventh across college baseball.   In the MIAA record books, he is fifth overall and 13 back of first.  Freeman is also tied for the program high in the NCAA era with 145 runs batted in.

C.D. White needs one hit to reach 200 at NSU, and would be third to do so.  Brayden Rodden is tied for third in the program's home run list with 31.