TAHLEQUAH -- Northeastern State baseball is set to hit the road for their final away games of the regular season, traveling to face Central Oklahoma on Tuesday (3 p.m.) and #3 Central Missouri from Friday through Sunday.

The RiverHawks (12-31, 9-20 MIAA) dropped all three contests to Emporia State at home across Thursday and Friday.

Key Players to Watch:

- Gage Williams holds a six-game hitting streak entering the week and is 13-of-20 at the plate across the span of time with four home runs and nine RBI.
- Austin Rees had a three-hit game on Friday against Emporia State and was responsible for driving in three of the team's four scores in the game three loss. Rees holds a .278 batting average with 18 RBI in conference play entering the last two weeks of the regular season.
- Mason Ruiz collected hits in all three games of the ESU series last week, highlighted by a two-hit performance on Thursday in the opener. Ruiz has seven hits across his last five games and ranks second on the team in home runs with six.

Central Oklahoma (31-13, 21-11 MIAA) enters the midweek matchup with the RiverHawks holding an eight-game winning streak in the series, last taking defeat at the hands of NSU on Apr. 12, 2022.The NSU bats have had limited issues against UCO pitching this season, scoring a combined 17 runs with 20 base hits across the first two games of the regular season series. The Bronchos have hit the second-most home runs (65) in the MIAA this season and are led offensively by Caden Robertson (.395, 21 HR, 72 RBI, 19 2B, 1.372 OPS). The pitching staff holds the third-lowest earned run average (5.19) in the league, while they are second in the association in strikeouts (376).

Central Missouri (32-9, 23-6 MIAA) holds the top spot in the MIAA standings with two weeks remaining and clinched their 30th straight season (excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign) with 30+ wins after sweeping Missouri Southern last week. UCM is second in the MIAA in batting average (.324) and is third in run production (368), while they lead the league in stolen bases (100). The Mules possess six players with at least 31 starts and batting averages of .340 or higher, while Vance Tobol is fourth in the league with 16 home runs. The UCM pitching staff is second in ERA (4.58) and at the top of the league in strikeouts (378). Three different pitchers have logged at least ten starts on the mound for the Mules, with Jack Scott holding the lowest ERA (3.06) among the trio and the fourth-lowest among qualifiers in the MIAA.