Bearcat baseball searches for second win

The brooms were brought out Feb. 9-12 as Northwestern Oklahoma State swept Northwest baseball in a four-game series. Those losses brought the Bearcats’ losing streak to five.

The ’Cats will hit the road Feb. 17-19, as they look to snap the five-game losing streak in three games in Joplin, Missouri.

These games will be the first the Bearcats will play in Missouri this season. Junior utility player Noah Bodenhausen said it will feel more like home.

“It’s nice,” Bodenhausen said. “I’m finally gonna be able to have some family come watch since it’s not so far. I’m sure we’ll have more people there to support us.”

Northwest (1-7) will play Illinois-Springfield (1-3) Feb. 17 to kick off the three-game series. The Prairie Stars have only played one series against No. 16 Lenoir-Rhyne University, and the ’Stars lost the series 1-3.

The Bearcats have played Illinois-Springfield one time before in a 9-7 loss in 11 innings for Northwest last season Feb. 20, 2022. Coach Darin Loe said the Bearcats are motivated to go play hard and work hard to win games.

“We’re just motivated to continue playing and continue getting better,” Loe said. “That’s the goal for this weekend — get better and start doing the things we need to do to be successful in our last non-conference games.”

After the contest against the Prairie Stars, Northwest will clash with Minnesota

State-Mankato (0-0) Feb. 18, a team the Bearcats have never played before.

The Mavericks have yet to play a game this season and will open up Feb.17 against Missouri Western. Last season, Mankato went 39-9 and won the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference title.

Bodenhausen said the Bearcats need to play their type of baseball to win this weekend.

“The biggest key is playing our own game, not letting the other team dictate what we do and just do what we do best,” Bodenhausen said.

Next on the docket for the Bearcats will be McKendree (0-3). This game will be the battle of the Bearcats, as both universities use the Bearcats as their mascots. The game will also wrap up the threegame series in Joplin and non- conference play for Northwest. McKendree lost to Oklahoma Baptist, Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State. During those three games, McKendree allowed 27 runs and scored just seven runs. Northwest allowed 38 runs in its last series and scored just 16 runs.

Loe said the ’Cats have to focus on what they can control and not worry about their record.

“We can’t look at the scoreboard, the win-loss column, the standings, whatever you want to say,” Loe said. “We just have to focus on the process and what makes us successful. If we look at wins and losses, records or scores or things like that, it’ll eat us up. We need to do the job that we need to do when we take the field.”