CLAREMORE, Okla. – The Rogers State baseball team totaled a season-high 23 hits in a dominating 18-0 win over Bemidji State on Tuesday (March 14) in a nonconference midweek game at the Diamond Sports Complex.
 
The Hillcats (14-8) finished only two hits off the school record of 25 set nearly 11 years ago on March 15, 2006 in a 21-6 win over Bluefield College. RSU tallied two triples, tying a school record in one game. The 18-0 margin is the largest margin of victory for the Cats in program history.
 
The navy and red jumped on the Beavers early, building a 7-0 lead after two innings. Three runs scored in the first inning with the final two on a double by Jason Marley. Matt Seubert brought in the first run of the second inning with a single, and Bradley Segnan posted his seven home run of the season, a three run homer to right, to up the advantage to 7-0.
 
After being held scoreless in the third inning, the only time in the game, the Hillcats added two runs in the fourth on a double steal and a single from Chris Miguel.
 
Two more runs came in the fifth. A sac fly from Brooks Douglas scored one run, and Seubert drove in another run with a single up the middle.
 
In the sixth inning RSU poured on four more runs. Marley homered to right to plate two of the four.
 
Marley added a triple in the seventh inning to score another run for a 16-0 score.
 
The eighth inning saw the Cats put up the final two runs. With the bases loaded, an error allowed one run to score. Cale Backward posted his first hit in the navy and red, an RBI single to center, for the final 18-0 margin.
 
Two Hillcats were only one hit away from the cycle. Marley needed only a single for the cycle, finishing 3-for-5 with five RBI. Degnan needed a triple as he went 3-for-5 with three RBI. Sam Casinelli was 4-for-5 with three runs scored. A total of 11 Hillcats registered hits in the game, including six with multi-hit games.
 
Landon Nealon started on the mound for the second time in his RSU career, going the first 2.0 innings. He allowed three hits with three strikeouts. Brock Knoten came in and picked up the win, totaling 5.0 innings with two hits. Andrew Lucio and Rusty Huber each went one inning.
 
In the last 10 innings for Huber, he has totaled 19 strikeouts, one walk and three hits, while not allowing a run.
 
The Hillcats return to Heartland Conference play this weekend at Texas A&M International for a three-game series. The three-game set starts on Friday (March 17) with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. in Laredo, Texas.