ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Three days after defeating Maryville, it's only fitting Griffon Baseball's first back-to-back winning stretch of the season comes at the cost of the Bearcats to kick off this weekend rivalry.

Thanks to a season-best showing from pitcher Jordan Akins this Friday, Missouri Western took game one vs. Northwest Missouri State with a 7-6 triumph. The Griffons (7-24, 4-17 MIAA) spared no time early in the first inning at the Spring Sports Complex with a pair of RBI doubles by Riley Higgins and Brenden Andersen. Northwest (14-21, 7-14) answered immediately with their own deuce of doubles, but the Griffons didn't wait long to make another dent in the game.

With Brady Holden on base in the bottom of the second, Alex Crouch cranked a line-drive home run to right field to put MWSU up for good. Crouch's 12th homer of the season is good for ninth most in the MIAA. One inning later, Jared Munk joined Crouch over the fence with his first solo moonshot of the spring, clearing center field to make it a 5-2 Griffon lead. 

Akins (4-5) threw 112 pitches through seven innings of solid work on the mound, striking out six Bearcats and giving up three runs. David Steffen ran into some trouble in the eighth when a Jacob Pinkerton three-run blast made it a 7-6 MWSU lead, but Robert Farrell fanned two and closed it out for the save in the ninth. 

NOTABLES 

Brady Holden: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 R
Hunter Olson: 3-for-3, caught Pinkerton stealing at second base
Jared Munk: 2-for-4, 1 HR (1st), 2 RBI, 1 R
Riley Higgins: 1-for-2, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Alex Crouch: 1-for-5, 1 HR (12th), 2 RBI

NEXT UP

Missouri Western and Northwest meet again for game two of the series on Saturday at 1 p.m. back in St. Joseph at the Spring Sports Complex.