The Missouri State baseball team picked up its first win in 29 days in resounding fashion Sunday afternoon with a 13-2 Missouri Valley Conference victory at Evansville Sunday afternoon at Braun Stadium.
The Bears used a three-run homer by Shane Elenz in the eighth and a seven-run ninth to turn a 3-2 game into a 13-2 lead to improve to 20-26 overall and 5-13 in league play after 14 consecutive losses. Evansville fell to 31-19 and 12-9 in the conference.
With Missouri State clinging to a 3-2 lead after seven frames, Matt Lawson led off the eighth with a single and Nolan Keane drew Mark Murray’s first walk of the game before Elenz hammered Murray’s final pitch of the afternoon over the left field wall for a three-run homer and a comfortable 6-2 lead.
Tim Clubb (5-3) took over the team lead in wins by allowing one earned run in 7.1 innings. Austin Todd earned his first save of the season, entering the game in the eighth with two men on and the tying run on deck and closing it with 1.2 perfect innings.
Josh Mazzola put the Bears on top 1-0 in the first by ripping a two-out single up the middle to score Ben Woodbury.
Jeff Zelenovich chopped a leadoff double over third base to open the third and eventually moved around to score on Jim Viscomi’s ground out to tie the game at 1-1.
Tanner Mattson continued his great series by drilling a leadoff double to the wall in left and scored on another two-out hit, this time a Woodbury single to center the give the lead back to the Bears at 2-1.
UE quickly tied it, using back-to-back errors to put runners on the corners with no outs in the fifth before Kern Watts pulled a single to right. Clubb then got Kasey Wahl to hit into a double play and Mattson made a spectacular play from deep short to throw out Pat Tumilty and end the inning with the score at 2-2.
The back-and-forth battle continued in the top of the sixth, as Keane turned on a Mark Murray pitch for a leadoff double and scored after a sac bunt from Elenz and a sac fly from Mazzola.
The Aces threatened in the eighth, as Tumilty walked and Robbie Minor lined a ball off Clubb to knock the starter out of the game. Todd then got Troy Krider to ground into a double play to preserve the 6-2 lead.
A wild top of the ninth began with Woodbury being plunked by reliever Fred Jones and Lawson drawing a four-pitch walk. Nolan Keane smoked an RBI single up the middle to score Woodbury. Shortstop Minor made a wild throw trying to catch Lawson at third that allowed the MSU second baseman to score and Keane to end up on third with no outs. Mazzola then fouled out to first baseman Wahl next to the Bears’ dugout, but the Evansville defense failed to cover home and Keane alertly tagged and scored for a 9-2 lead. After a walk and a single to load the bases, Brayden Drake cleared the bases with a three-run double and Woodbury provided an RBI single before the Aces ended it, but not before the Bears sent 11 men to the plate for a seven-run outburst and a 13-2 lead.
The Bears return home Tuesday for a 7 p.m. tilt with Oral Roberts at Hammons Field.
