TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State Baseball goes on the road to face Fort Hays State in continued MIAA action this weekend.

The RiverHawks took Tuesday's home meeting with Randall in a 7-5 win and will look to end a five-game conference losing skid with the upcoming three-game series.

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
- Tyson Fourkiller will seek to have another big series as the team's tone-setter from the leadoff spot in the batting order. Fourkiller has a strong claim on the team's batting title over a month into the campaign with a .471 average, a clip that ranks second in the conference.
- With Tuesday's two-hit performance, Ty Van Meter extended his team-best hitting streak to 12 games. Van Meter holds a .385 average entering the weekend.
- Northeastern State pitching has struggled against MIAA competition in 2024, as the RiverHawks have surrendered nine or more earned runs in every game against a conference foe this season and allowed 54 earned runs across last weekend's series against Central Missouri. 
- The RiverHawks have found consistent power hitting of late, as they enter the weekend with five straight multi-homer performances against conference foes.
- Cole White had a winning showing in relief on Tuesday against Randall, pitching two shutout innings and claiming his second win of 2024 in the process. 

Northeastern State at Fort Hays State (Mar. 9 at 1:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., Mar. 10 at 12:00 p.m.) // Live Coverage

About Fort Hays State (14-6, 2-4 MIAA)
- Fort Hays State enters the weekend following a pair of wins over Upper Iowa and a series loss from the previous week over Rogers State.
- Justin Wichert is in his second season as the head baseball coach at FHSU. Wichert guided the Tigers to a much-improved 20-win result 2023 campaign after they were had just four wins in 2022. With previous experience as a head coach at Trinidad State College (2019-22), along with prior work as an assistant at Arkansas-Fort Smith, Pittsburg State and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, Wichert is looking to take FHSU to their first winning season since 2013. 
- Brady Kreutzer highlights the Tiger bats, with a team-best .316 average and four home runs, a total that only ranks behind Elliott Hermann's five for the team crown. He's also been seated on strikes often this season, with 23 strikeouts across his 76 at-bats this year.
- The Tigers have a duo of starting arms that have had solid starts to the season in Dylan Rinker (3-1, 2.86 ERA, 22 SO) and Cade Flaherty (2-2, 3.34 ERA, 24 SO). 

Series Notes
- Northeastern State holds a dominant 23-6 record all-time vs. Fort Hays State.
- NSU won two of three 2023 encounters, though FHSU's Apr. 7 win in Tahlequah ended a 16-game losing streak to the RiverHawks.
- The Tigers will look for their first successful defense of their home field against the RiverHawks since Apr. 3, 2016. 

Coming Up
Northeastern State goes to Edmond to clash with Central Oklahoma on Tuesday, Mar. 12 and will play host to Newman at Rousey Field from Mar. 15-17.