Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Bolivar, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University baseball team earned a road double-header split, played in Bolivar, on Friday against Nebraska-Kearney to secure their first 30 win season in program history. The Bearcats now stand at 30-16 (20-13 MIAA) on the season.

In game one Nebraska-Kearney was the first to strike, plating a run in the bottom of third inning to take a 1-0 lead. The score would remain the same until the top of the sixth inning when Southwest Baptist would get on the board. Back-to-back singles from Sean Murley and Hunter Hisky put runners on the corners with no outs before Chance Wolfe hit an RBI fielder's choice to tie the game at 1-1. After Wolfe stole second, Jovany Urbieta knocked him home with an RBI single to right field to give SBU the lead at 2-1.

UNK was shut down in the bottom half of the sixth before the Bearcats went to work in the seventh. Clint Jack led the inning off with a walk, followed by a sacrifice bunt from Caleb Sneed coupled with an error to put two on with no outs. Murley then hit a bunt single to load the bases for Hisky who hit a sacrifice fly to center to extend the lead to 3-1. Two batters later Urbieta hit a two-RBI single to right to give the Bearcats a 5-1 lead. The Lopers responded with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, but SBU went back to work in the eighth. Cody Massey led the inning off with a double down the left field line, was sacrificed to third, and came home on a Sneed double to left center. After an out, Hisky and Wolfe hit back-to-back RBI singles to extend the Bearcat lead to 8-3. Kearney would get one back in the bottom of the eighth, but Jay Kaufman came into the game and worked out of a bases loaded jam to preserve the lead as SBU went on to claim the 8-4 victory. Starting pitcher Andrew Meier picked up the win by going 7.0 innings allowing two earned runs with five strikeouts, while Jay Kaufman threw 1.1 innings in relief to pick up the save.

In game two the Bearcats struck first in the top of the second. With two outs in the inning Urbieta was hit by a pitch and came home a batter later when Nelson Muniz hit a two-run homerun to left field to give the Bearcats a 2-0 lead. SBU doubled their lead in the top of the third, as Murley hit a one out double to left center followed promptly by a double to left center by Hisky to give SBU a 3-0 lead. Meier then knocked home Hisky on a two-out RBI single through the right side to give the Bearcats a 4-0 lead. UNK responded with three runs in the bottom of the third, cutting SBU's lead to 4-3.

After a scoreless fourth, the Bearcats went back to work in the fifth. Sneed led the inning off with a single up the middle followed two batters later by a Hisky single to left field. Wolfe then singled through the left side, but Sneed was thrown out at the plate. Meier continued his strong hitting effort, doubling Hisky to extend the lead back to 5-3. Urbieta then picked up two more RBI on the day with a single to left center to give the Bearcats a 7-3 lead. However, the Lopers again responded in the bottom half of the inning with two runs to cut the SBU lead to 7-5.

In the top of the sixth Jack led the inning off with a single to center field, followed two batters later with a double from Murley to put runners on second and third. Hisky then brought home both runners with a single down the right field line to push the lead back to 9-5. UNK against answered with four runs in the bottom half of the inning, tying the game at 9-9. In the top of the seventh the Bearcats re-took the lead. Urbieta led the inning off with a single to center, moved over to second on a groundout, and came home on an RBI single from Jack. Sneed then ripped a double to left, scoring Jack, and giving the Bearcats an 11-9 lead. UNK got one back in the bottom of the seventh, but the Lopers then tacked on four more in the bottom of the eighth as SBU would eventually fall 14-11.

The Bearcats had a strong day at the plate led by Hunter Hisky and Sean Murley who each had five hits. Caleb Sneed, Chance Wolfe, Jovany Urbieta, and Nelson Muniz each chipped in four hits, while Hisky knocked in five runs and Urbieta three.

SBU will step out of MIAA on Tuesday, May 2 when they travel to Missouri-St. Louis for a non-conference game. Opening pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. from St. Louis, Missouri.