MARYVILLE, Mo. – University of Arkansas – Fort Smith Baseball struggled to get the bats going Saturday as the Lions suffered a 5-2 setback at Northwest Missouri State.
The Lions recorded single tallies in the fourth and fifth innings on RBIs from infielders Noah Davis and Dakota Peters, but the Bearcats scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Austin Mitchell started on the mound for the Lions and threw five scoreless frames before the Bearcats got on the board. He allowed five runs on four hits over 5.1 innings of work. Aden Almeida threw 2.2 innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts.
The Lions had chances to add to their lead, but had a runner thrown out at the plate in the fourth and left two runners on in the sixth.
Catcher Ryan Riggs and infielder Matthew Schilling each had two hits for the Lions.
The teams will meet in the series finale at 1 p.m. Sunday.