HAYS, Kan. -- Northeastern State was held off the board in eight of nine innings in an 11-2 loss in the weekend series finale to Fort Hays State at Larks Park.
A five-run second inning got the offense started for FHSU (16-6, 5-4 MIAA), who finished the day with 14 base hits. The RiverHawks (10-13, 1-8 MIAA) found their lone scores in the fifth inning, courtesy of
Matt Kaiser's second home run of the series. The Tigers responded with two runs scoring in the sixth, seventh and eighth to issue a commanding response, with over half the batting order finding multi-hit showings.
Kaiser's two-run blast drove himself and
Isaiah Keller home and served as the offensive highlight of the day, while
Gage Williams and
Tyson Fourkiller logged base hits, too. Williams was the lone RiverHawk with a multi-hit afternoon with a two-hit performance.
The FHSU pitching staff put together their best performance of the series in game three, sending the RiverHawks packing on strikes 16 times, the most strikeouts for the NSU offense in 2024. The visitors were not quite as strong in comparison on the bump, as
Chance Condit made it 2.1 innings before seeing his day end after allowing five earned runs.
Kyle Duffey recorded an out, as did
Christian Johnson in relief, while
Hayden Key tossed five innings between them. Despite being tagged with the final six FHSU runs of the afternonon, Key was responsible for six of the pitching staff's ten strikeouts on the day.
Northeastern State goes to Edmond, Okla. on Tuesday, Mar. 12 to square off against Central Oklahoma before hosting Newman at the end of the week.
