Storm Baseball Splits Saturday Twinbill

ALVA, Okla. – Chase Keeton homered and finished with five hits on the day, helping Southeastern to a Saturday split with Northwestern Oklahoma State, picking up a win in the opener 5-1 before falling in the nightcap 7-1 in Alva, Okla.
 
The split moves the Savage Storm to 8-12 overall on the season and 7-5 in Great American Conference play.
 
In the opener, Chase Keeton turned in a 3-for-3 effort with an RBI and a run scored, while Payton Poole posted a pair of hits.
 
Brady Evans, Nick Mueller, Gage Dollins, Alex Showalter, and Austin Thorp each finished with a hit.
 
Mueller connected on his second home run of the weekend to drive in two runs, with Keeton and Thorp driving in a run each.
 
Colton Clawson got the start and picked up his third win of the season after allowing a run on four hits in six innings of work.
 
Corson Abbott followed with three innings and did not allow a hit or a run over three innings and picked up his second save of the year.
 
Southeastern got on the board first thanks to a wild pitch in the second inning and a batter later pushed that lead to 2-0 on a Thorp RBI single that plated Showalter.
 
NWOSU cut that advantage in half in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI groundout to make it 2-1.
 
That remained the score until the ninth inning when Evans led off with a single to set the stage for Mueller's second homer of the weekend, pushing the lead to 4-1.
 
Poole followed with a single, moved to second on a passed ball before stealing third and then scoring on a Keeton RBI single, taking a 5-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth and it would hold up as the final.
 
In the finale, Keeton added two more hits and an RBI, while Mueller picked up a hit.
 
Brock Zimmer got the start and took the loss after allowing four runs on six hits with four strikeouts over 4.2 innings.
 
Austin Hillebrandt followed with 1.1 innings of work, allowing three runs on three hits.
 
In the nightcap, Keeton put the Storm on the board with a leadoff homer in the top of the third inning.
 
That lead held until the bottom of the fourth when NWOSU led off with a homer and added a run n a sac fly later in the inning for a 2-1 lead.
 
The Rangers followed with three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth extending its lead to 7-1