Freshman righty Tyler Ryun allowed just three hits in seven shutout innings in his first career start to lead the Missouri State baseball team to a 7-3 victory over Saint Louis Tuesday evening at Hammons Field.
The Bears improved to 19-10 on the season, while SLU dropped to 13-15.
Ryun (1-0) did not allow a Billiken beyond second base, struck out two and induced 12 ground ball outs in the longest outing of his young career.
A four-run seventh proved to be the difference after a late Billiken rally. Aaron Conway got the scoring started in the inning, reaching on an error and stealing his way to third before scoring on a Nolan Keane single. Brayden Drake followed that with a towering fly ball to shallow center field that four SLU defenders converged on but none caught, allowing the ball to fall in for an RBI double. Ben Carlson pulled an RBI single beyond the diving first baseman to bring Drake home, Josh Mazzola singled and Kyle Paul knocked an RBI single to score Carlson.
A leadoff walk in the third became the first run to score in the game, as MSU’s Ryan Mantle advanced to second on a balk, was bunted to third by Curt Courtwright and scored on Conway’s sacrifice fly.
Missouri State tacked on a pair of runs in the fourth when Drake and Christian Overstreet powered solo home runs one batter apart off SLU starter Chris Merrick (1-2) to give the Bears a 3-0 cushion. Overstreet’s long ball was his second in his last three at bats.
After Ryun left the game, the Billikens loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth on reliever Pat Doyle and pushed three runs across. Freshman Kyle Dyer pitched a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts for MSU.
The Bears continue their five-game homestand by hosting eighth-ranked Missouri Wednesday at 7 p.m.
