Bolivar, Mo. - Jeremiah Bryan led a strong offensive effort for the Bearcats on Friday afternoon with 4 hits, 5 rbi's, and 3 runs scored as SBU swept Pittsburg State 3-2 and 13-12 to move to 13-12-1 (8-8 MIAA) on the season.

Game one proved to be a pitching dual between the Bearcats and the Gorillas. The Gorillas were the first to strike in the top of the third inning, taking a 1-0 lead. The Bearcats bounced back in the bottom of the fifth when Jeremiah Bryan singled to right field, with two outs, bringing home Landon Young and Jacob Estes to give SBU a 2-1 lead. PSU tied the game up in the top of the 6th before SBU scored the game winning run in the bottom half of the inning off of a balk by a Pittsburg State pitcher. Jacob Sullinger came in to relieve Mike Nielebeck (5.0 innings, 2 runs) and allowed only one hit in 2.0 innings of work to pick up the victory.

In game two both Southwest Baptist and Pittsburg State came out ready to hit. Pittsburg State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before the Bearcats responded in the bottom half of the first. After a lead-off double by Tyler Christophel, and a stolen base, Bryan had an RBI ground-out to cut the lead in half at 2-1. Pittsburg State would tack on two more in the third before SBU would add another in the bottom half of the inning off of a Bryan solo homerun to cut the lead to 4-2. SBU continued to hit, as they scored two runs in each of the next three innings off of RBI's from Cody Crutcher, Estes, Drew Miller, Spencer Blacksher, and Christophel to take a 8-4 lead into the seventh. Pitt State would respond with five in the seventh, taking a 9-8 lead, before SBU would tie the game up 9 off of a sacrifice fly from Young. Pitt State would continue to fight, taking a 10-8 lead into the bottom of the eighth, but the Bearcats continued to battled. Blacksher singled up the middle to plate Bryan, cutting the lead to one, before Crutcher blasted a two-rbi double to deep center to give SBU the 12-11 lead. Pitt State tied the game up in the top of the ninth, but SBU was determined to come away with a victory. Young led off the bottom of the ninth with a double down the left field line, followed by a bunt single by Christophel to put runners on the corners for Bryan. Bryan hit a long fly ball to left field, which was caught, but Young was able to tag up and give SBU the 13-12 victory. Sullinger picked up his second win of the day by pitching .2 innings in the ninth to move to 4-0 on the season.

"I'm really proud of our team," Jeremiah Bryan stated after the sweep. "We battled all day and came away with two huge wins. We have to come out tomorrow with the same fight."

As a team the Bearcats collected 21 hits over the two games, including multi-hit games from Christophel, Bryan, Miller, Blacksher, and Young.

"I was proud of our guys effort," head coach Chris Martin stated. "We have been playing well as of late but haven't been getting breaks. I thought we battled through some adversity today."

The Bearcats will wrap up the season series against the Gorillas tomorrow, Saturday, March 31. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m. from Dodson Field.