TAHLEQUAH -- Northeastern State hosts their final home series of April when they face Emporia State on Thursday night at 5 p.m. before battling in a doubleheader Friday.

NSU (12-28, 9-17 MIAA) dropped a matchup to Arkansas-Fort Smith in extras Tuesday evening, logging 16 base hits in a 15-11 setback to the Lions.

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Key Players to Watch:

- Gage Williams provided four base hits, the most in a single game across his NSU career, in Tuesday's meeting against UAFS. Among his total was a second inning grand slam, his seventh home run of the season. Williams will go on later this week to face an ESU opponent that he doubled and tripled against in last season's series.
- Colton Ayres was a factor from the middle of the order Tuesday night, providing three base hits and scoring a pair of runs. Ayres holds a .333 batting average on the season, while he ranks second on the team in base hits (37) with three MIAA series remaining.
- Diego Murillo enters this week's series with ESU after a two-hit performance in the midweek matchup against the Lions. Murillo has a base hit in four of his last five games.

After dropping seven of eight to begin April, ESU (18-19, 11-15 MIAA) returned to the win column by claiming a commanding 9-2 victory over Missouri Western on Tuesday. The win, paired with the NSU loss to UAFS, places the Hornets two games ahead of the Green and White in the MIAA standings. The RiverHawks have won the last four three-game series between the teams dating back to 2021. The Hornets own a 19-15 lead in the all-time series, winning 17 of 22 meetings prior to the 2021 season. 

The Hornets hold the eighth-highest batting average (.280) in the conference and are tenth in run production (254). One of the top power hitting teams in the league, ESU is third in the MIAA in home runs (56), paced by Noah Steele (11). The pitching staff is seventh in earned run average (6.64) and 11th in strikeouts (247). Cade Barton is inside the top ten individually in ERA (3.26) and has seen his last five appearances last at least six innings. Meanwhile, reliever Ian Lanik ranks third in the conference in saves (six) and has struck out 20 batters in 18.1 innings.