Gareth Roderick completed his century, but Worcestershire Seconds went down by five wickets to Northamptonshire Seconds on the final day of the Second Eleven Championship match at Wantage Road.
Roderick resumed on 98 not out and went to three figures with a single off Charlie Thurston.
It came from 203 balls, with the second fifty completed in only 74 balls, with one six and 11 fours.
His overnight partner, Josh Dell, had retired out on 116 to join up with the senior squad at New Road for the LV=Insurance County Championship match with Derbyshire.
But new batsman Alex Milton struck a quickfire 34 before he was caught and bowled by spinner Thurston off a leading edge.
The declaration immediately followed with Roderick unbeaten on 122 out of 321-3. Both sides forfeited an innings – after the wash-out of the first two days – to leave Northamptonshire a target of 322 in a minimum of 69 overs.
Worcestershire captain, Charlie Morris, struck an early blow when Harry Gouldstone (6) was lbw and, in typical fashion, the paceman led by example and bowled accurately throughout the run chase.
He returned after lunch and, with the second delivery after the resumption, he had Emilio Gay caught behind by Milton for a quickfire 54 with the total 79-2.
But Northamptonshire gradually took control from that point, and the other front-line bowlers found it challenging to keep the batsmen in check.
Thurston led the way with 149 from just 157 balls with two sixes and 26 balls – a total of 116 in boundaries – and added 120 in 22 overs with Josh Cobb for the third wicket.
Cobb (33) was bowled by Mitchell Stanley, but then Richard Levi joined Thurston to add another 82 in 13 overs.
Ismail Mohammed had Thurston finally caught by Henry Cullen at extra cover, and then Adam Finch bowled Kashif Ali (9) at 292-5.
Morris returned for a final spell, and he and Ismail Mohammed made Northamptonshire work for runs before victory was achieved with one ball of the minimum 69 overs to spare.
Morris ended with figures of 16.5-3-42-2, Pat Brown 8-1-38-0, Finch 13-2-63-1, Stanley 8-0-57-1, Ed Bragg 5-0-34-0, Ben Parker 4-1-22-0, Jacques Banton 7-0-46-0 and Ismail Mohammed 7-1-16-1.
