Saint Charles, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern baseball team fell 5-4 today in its season finale to Northwest Missouri at the 2016 MIAA Baseball Tournament held at the Lou Brock Sports Complex.
Southern (32-20) got a 2-for-3 performance from
Jacob Bryant with two RBIs and a run scored.
Jackson Cain went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while
Tyler Sutherland went 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
Richie Gorski had a hit of his own, while
Matt Smith scored a run.
Northwest (25-27) got a 3-for-5 performance from Nick Gotta with two RBIs and a run scored. James Holler went 2-for-5 with an RBI, while Garrett Fort scored two runs.
Cody Hutchinson started and went six and a third, while striking out three and allowing just four hits and three runs scored.
Zach Litchen threw an inning and allowed a run and four hits, while
Kyle McCulloch went the final inning and two thirds and suffered the loss to move to 2-2 on the season.
Carson Smith threw the final three innings for the Bearcats and limited Southern to just one hit, while striking out three.
The Lions got on the board first with three runs in the third inning. Bryant singled home Smith for the first run while Sutherland drove a double off the right-field wall to score Bryant and Cain.
Northwest answered back with a pair of runs in the fifth, but the Lions got one of the runs back in the bottom half of the inning on Bryant's second RBI of the day.
The Bearcats, however, got two more runs in the seventh to tie the game and Holler drove in the game-winner in the top of the ninth to secure the win.
Southern ends the season with a 32-20 recrrd.
Jesse Rall set the single-season record for home runs with 18 as the team set the single-season record for home runs with 66.
Payton Walker is the all-time MSSU leader in strikeouts, games started and innings pitched, while finishing his career second overall in wins.
The Lions had eight players named All-MIAA with Walker and Rall earning first-team honors.
Chris Hoffman and Gorski were second-team members, while Sutherland and Smith earned third-team honors. Hutchinson and Bryant were honorable mention selections.
