TAHLEQUAH – Northastern State Baseball continues conference action this week with a road trip to the Sunflower state to encounter Emporia State.

The RiverHawks have momentum arising from a three-game sweep of Newman last week at Rousey Field. 

The Setup
- Northeastern State baseball is guided by head coach Sunny Golloway. Golloway was hired last summer after spending a season in the same position at East Central. He brings decades of experience at the Division I level to Tahlequah, also leading teams at Oral Roberts (1996-2003), Oklahoma (2005-13) and Auburn (2014-15). Golloway-led teams have appeared in 15 NCAA Regionals and four Super Regionals, while he led the Sooners to an appearance in the 2010 College World Series.
- NSU enters the season two removed from one of their best in program history, where the RiverHawks won 38 games and made the Central Regional in 2022. The RiverHawks were only a couple wins shy of returning last season, as one of the last three teams remaining in the MIAA tournament as part of a 25-win effort in 2023.
- The team's series continues their 33-game MIAA schedule. 

Around the Diamond
- The NSU bats helped lead the charge in last weekend's sweep of NU, with 25 runs batted in alongside three home runs. 
- Strong starts from the pitching staff played large roles in keeping the NU offense from breaking out in a big way against the RiverHawks last weekend, as NSU's starters pitched a combined 19 innings and only allowed six earned runs with 16 strikeouts. 
- C.D. White picked up his first win from the mound in 2024 with a strong start in game two against Newman last Saturday, while he was just as productive from the batter's box, where he collected four hits and three RBI. White leads the RiverHawks and is tied for sixth in the conference with 35 RBI this season. 
- Gage Williams has been a hot hand, of late, as he holds NSU's longest active hitting streak at six games and has homered in every MIAA series this season. Williams is tied for the team lead with four home runs, while his .382 batting average ranks second among regulars. 
- NSU baserunners were active last weekend, as the RiverHawks tallied 19 steals across the weekend series with the Jets. The team is second in the MIAA with 83 steals on the campaign.

Northeastern State at Emporia State (Mar. 22 at 2 p.m. (DH), Mar. 23 at 1 p.m.) //  Live Coverage

About Emporia State (14-14, 5-8 MIAA)
- The Hornets are 2-2 over the prevous week, with two wins over Rogers State alongside a loss to the Hillcats and a Tuesday setback against Northwestern Oklahoma in non-conference action. 
- Brad Hill is in his first season leading Emporia State's baseball program, returning to his alma mater after nearly two consecutive decades of coaching at the Division I level. He spent 2022 as an assistant at Northwestern after winning 462 games across a 15-season run in the Big 12 as the head baseball coach at Kansas State, where he led the Wildcats to four appearances in the Regional and one trip to the Supers. Prior experience in the MIAA for Hill is highlighted by his nine-season run in the same role at Central Missouri, where he won the 2003 College World Series with the Mules. 
- Kadyn Williams leads the ESU offensive attack with a .386 average and seven home runs with 37 RBI. His average and home run amount ranks inside the conference's top ten, while his RBI total sits in a tied for third among league hitters. 
- The Hornets rank in the middle of the league in most major offensive categories with the ninth-best batting average (.279), fifth-most home runs (35) and the seventh-most runs (204). The same applies for the team's pitching, which sits in seventh in earned run average (5.99) and tied for sixth in strikeouts (205). 

Series Notes
- ESU leads the all-time series 18-13. 
- NSU enters the week with wins in eight of their last nine against the Hornets. 
- The Hornets have struggled to find a consistent offensive rhythm against NSU pitching in recent years, as they have been held to four runs or less in six of their last nine contests against the RiverHawks. Just eight ESU runs scored across last season's three-game series in Tahlequah. 

Coming Up
NSU returns to Rousey Field, hosting Central Oklahoma on Mar. 26 before a three-game series later against Pittsburg State from Mar. 28-30.