Box Score

Bolivar, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University baseball team completed their fourth straight weekend series sweep on Saturday afternoon, taking down Northwest Missouri 11-6. With the win SBU improves to 27-11 (17-8 MIAA) on the season.

For the third straight game, Northwest Missouri jumped out to a 1-0 lead after a half inning of play. NWMSU tacked on another two runs in the top of the second, extending their lead to 3-0, before Southwest Baptist got on the board in the bottom half of the inning. Jovany Urbieta led the inning off by drawing a walk, followed by a single up the middle from Andrew Meier and a walk from Cody Massey to load the bases. Two batters later Caleb Sneed hit a sacrifice fly to center field to put SBU on the board down 3-1. After a scoreless top half of the third, the Bearcats cut the deficit to one in the bottom half of the inning. Singles from Sean Murley and Urbieta put runners on first and second for Meier who hit an rbi single to left field to cut the deficit to 3-2. However, NWMSU added another run in the top of the fourth as SBU trailed 4-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth.

Southwest Baptist took their first lead of the game in the bottom half of the fifth, scoring five runs to take a 7-4 lead. Murley led the inning off with a single to left field and came home on an rbi double from Urbieta to pull SBU within one at 4-3. Meier then collected his third hit of the game ahead of an rbi double from Massey to tie the game at 4-4. SBU then had back-to-back rbi singles from Clint Jack and Sneed, coupled with a NWMSU error, to give Southwest Baptist the 7-4 lead.

SBU again extended their lead in the bottom half of the sixth. Muniz opened up the inning with a single to left, followed by a walk from Urbieta to put runners on first and second. After two outs, Jack and Sneed again had back-to-back rbi singles to give SBU a 9-4. In the bottom of the seventh, Hunter Hisky hit a leadoff solo homerun followed by a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth to give SBU an 11-4 lead. NWMSU would add two runs in the top of the ninth, but Southwest Baptist would cruise to an 11-6 victory.

On the mound Drew Wagner picked up the victory, throwing 5.1 innings allowing four runs with four strikeouts. Carter Newton came in for the final 3.2 innings of the game to earn his first save of the year allowing two runs to go along with five strikeouts. Andrew Meier continued his hot hitting, starting the game 3-3 for a stretch of eight straight at-bats with a hit, and finished 3-5 on the day. Caleb Sneed also went 3-5 with three RBI, while Clint Jack went 2-5 with two runs and two RBI.

The Bearcats will hit the road on Tuesay, April 18 when they travel to Central Missouri for game two of the three-game set against the Mules. Opening pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. from Warrensburg, Missouri.