The Missouri State baseball team led 6-5 after three innings but saw its lead disappear for good in the fourth in a 9-8 Missouri Valley Conference loss to Bradley Sunday afternoon at Hammons Field.
After Bradley (14-12, 2-4 MVC) had turned a 5-2 deficit into a 9-6 lead in the top of the sixth, the Bears (19-13, 4-5) closed the gap to 9-8, but BU’s Chris Wright allowed one hit over the final 2.1 innings for the save. Nolan Keane hit a line drive over the right field wall for his sixth homer of the season in the sixth, and Tanner Mattson knocked his third hit of the day in the seventh to score Chris Taylor and pull the Bears as close as they would get.
Ryan Mantle put the Bears on the board in the first, driving a two-out solo home run into bullpen in left for a 1-0 lead and extending Missouri State’s streak of scoring in the first inning to seven games.
Bradley responded with two runs in the second, using RBI singles from Mike McMillan and Bryan Porter as two of the Braves’ five hits in the frame.
Matt Lawson led off the bottom of the second with a double and BU starter Jon Goebel worked his way to one strike from a scoreless inning before walking Shane Elenz after an 0-2 count. Goebel walked Mattson to load the bases and issued free passes to Ben Woodbury and Keane before being relieved by Brad Altbach. Mantle knocked Altbach’s 2-1 pitch over a leaping Dan Brewer at shortstop for two more RBIs and a 5-2 Missouri State lead.
The Braves loaded the bases with three singles in the third. Ryan Eigsti fouled out to first but Paul Rice tagged and scored from third when Ben Carlson threw over Kyle Paul’s head at home plate. Colby Luttrell and McMillan added RBI singles as Bradley knotted the score back at 5-5.
Mattson gave the Bears the lead back in the third with a ground ball through the left side to score Elenz from second.
The Braves retook the lead with two runs in the fourth and pushed it to 9-6 with two more unearned runs in the sixth.
Mantle finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs, and Mattson reached base in all five plate appearances. The bullpen allowed three hits and no earned runs in the final 5.1 frames after Shafer (1-4) gave up seven runs on 12 hits in the start.
Missouri State plays at No. 6 Arkansas at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
