BOLIVAR, Mo. -- The SBU baseball Bearcats dropped both games on Saturday to Northwest Missouri, falling on Senior Day, 12-8 in extra innings in the opener and 7-0 in the second game.

With NWMSU leading 1-0 in the third inning, SBU took the lead with five runs. Bo Helsel singled to score Kyle Tormanen. Justin Barnhart would single to score Jason Asher. John Cobb would single to left to score Helsel and Barnhart, and would come home on a double by Justin Crumpley.

After two NWMSU runs in the top of the fourth, SBU would answer back with two in the bottom half. Tormanen homered to lead off the inning and a double from Kyle Wise would score Helsel to put SBU's lead at 7-3. Northwest (23-24, 14-18 MIAA) would tie the game with a run in the fifth inning and three in the sixth.

In a game originally scheduled for seven innings, the green Bearcats grabbed an 8-7 edge on a home run from Brandon Kirsch to lead off the seventh. SBU would tie the game in the last of the inning. Crumpley just missed a walk-off homer when he doubled off the wall to score Cobb. Northwest would score four times in the extra eighth inning, including Kirsch's second blast of the game.

Helsel, Crumpley and Tormanen had two hits each for SBU. Kirsch drove in four for NWMSU. Kirsch would hit five homers in the four-game series.

The second game saw NWMSU starter Brett Harvel limit SBU to just three hits. Senior SBU pitchers, Ray Kelly and Bobby McMillin, took the hill on Senior Day. Kelly struck out five in 6 2/3 innings but picked up the loss.


Four seniors -- Asher, Cobb, Kelly and McMillin -- were honored in a ceremony between games. Asher, Kelly and McMillin have played four years for the SBU Bearcats while Cobb has been the team for three years.

SBU (8-36, 6-26 MIAA) travels down I-44 on Tuesday, April 28, to take on Missouri Southern in a doubleheader starting at 4:00 p.m.

NWMSU 12, SBU 8 (8 innings)
NWMSU 7, SBU 0