NSU Sports
Don Vieth, Director of Sports Information
TAHLEQUAH – There was no fooling around at Rousey Field on Saturday with the RiverHawks run-ruling Fort Hays State twice to complete the series sweep.
Northeastern State took the opener 17-4 in seven innings and won on a walk off three run shot by Butch Rea in the bottom of the eighth to beat the Tigers 14-4.
The red-hot RiverHawks have won five MIAA contests in a row and are two games back of first place in the standings.
“Every single position player got on base today what that means is that every single guy is contributing, every guy is taking a good approach to the plate,” said head coach Jake Hendrick. “For every single position player to get on base, whether it’s a hit or walk, it was a really solid day all the way up and down when something like this happens.”
In the opener, NSU trailed once in the opening frame with FHSU (8-22, 1-16 MIAA) hitting a solo homer. Northeastern State in the bottom half of the inning pounded out four hits and scored three runs.
Rea put the RiverHawks up 4-1 with a solo shot in the second and Zach Henderson slugged out their fifth run an inning later.
The monster inning was the fifth for the RiverHawks where they sent 13 batters to the plate and scored nine runs on the Tigers. Aidan Doherty highlight the frame with a three run shot in a pinch hitting opportunity in his second career at-bat.
With a 14-1 lead, NSU picked up two more runs on a pinch hit double from Ryan Neff, and later Dakota Morse hit a sac fly to put the RiverHawks up 16. In the bottom half of in frame, FHSU scored three runs with a large amount of the game’s starters out of the lineup.
Nolan Sturgeon (4-0) went six innings and struck out nine batters; James Cowell threw the seventh inning.
The RiverHawks matched their season high with 17 runs scored and they had 15 hits. Rea batted 3-for-5 out of the leadoff spot with three runs scored, and two RBI.
In the second game, NSU never trailed scoring six runs in the opening two innings. Rea opened the game off with his second homer of the day and Henderson hit a rare inside the park homer to score three runs. Dakota Woods dropped a two RBI single in the second to put them up 6-0 on the Tigers.
After a scoreless inning, NSU got RBI hits from Bryce Davenport and Henderson to push their lead to 8-0.
The RiverHawks added their ninth run on a passed ball in the seventh before FHSU had their biggest inning of the series in the eighth with four runs.
Fort Hays’ momentum was short lived and Dylan Adams hit a two RBI double to center and later with two on Rea hit the first pitch he saw to left to score three and end the game by run-rule.
Northeastern State had 12 hits in the win with Rea going 4-for-5 and four RBI.
Zach Parish (3-2) picked up win going six innings with 11 strikeouts, Dustin Berrong, and Jeremy Mansur tossed the final two innings.
Northeastern State is now 17-11 overall and 11-6 in the MIAA, they will head to Pitt State on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. start.