Bolivar, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University baseball team picked up their 3rd straight MIAA victory over Pittsburg State on Saturday, 9-4, before droping game two of the double-header 4-5. The Bearcats collected 23 hits over the two games, and move to 14-13-1 (9-9 MIAA) this season.

In game one Justin Pasichnyk had a solid pitching effort, throwing 6.2 of the 7 inning game to pick up the victory. The Bearcats were the first to strike in the first inning when Jeremiah Bryan come home on a PSU error, followed by a Spencer Blacksher rbi single through the left side, bringing home Drew Miller. The Bearcats added one more in the first when Brendon Cox came home on a wild pitch, giving SBU a 3-0 lead. Pittsburg State responded in the top of the third with two runs of their own, but SBU bounced right back in the bottom half of the inning. After singles by Bryan and Cox, Blacksher once again hit an rib single, plating Miller to put SBU up 4-2. Cox came home later in the inning off of an rbi by Kyle Jochems to put SBU up 5-2. The Bearcats added another run in the fourth off of an rbi single from Cox, but Pittsburg State added two in the fifth to cut the lead to 6-4. However, SBU responded when Ross Wolfe led off the inning, and would eventually come to score on a passed ball. William Swofford then blasted his first homerun of the season, followed later in the inning by an rbi single by Bryan. The Bearcats would go on to claim game one 9-4.

In game two the Bearcats once again were on the scoreboard first when Tyler Christophel on a two-out rbi single from Cox to give SBU a 1-0 lead. However, Pittsburg State would take the lead in the fifth inning by scoring 5 runs to take a 5-1 lead. The Bearcats continued to battle, scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth off of a sacrifice fly from Wolfe, pulling SBU within 3. The Bearcats added two more in the seventh when Christophel and Landon Young came home off of a single from Miller, but the comeback fell just short in as Pittsburg State took game two 5-4.

"We had a good weekend," head coach Chris Martin stated. "I am proud of our kids. We won't quit playing hard and working all year. We had our chances in game two to win, but we beat a really good pitcher in game one. We'll get back to work next week and try to get better."

The Bearcats will resume action on Friday, April 6th when they travel to Kirksville, Missouri for a match-up with the Bulldogs. First pitch against Truman State is set for 1:00 p.m.