Chris Playter slugged a three-run home run with two outs in the first inning and Tim Clubb took care of the rest with a historic win as the Missouri State baseball team cruised to a 12-2 Missouri Valley Conference victory over Northern Iowa Thursday at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo, Iowa.
With their seventh consecutive win, the Bears improved to 37-14 overall and 17-5 in league play while clinching at least a second-place finish in the MVC and first-round bye in next week’s conference tournament. UNI fell to 28-21 and 13-9 in MVC play, securing the fourth seed in the Valley Tournament.
Playter gave the Bears the 3-0 lead after Guido Fonseca walked Nolan Keane and Ben Carlson, driving his third homer of the season over the left-center field wall with two outs.
Clubb took care of the rest, stifling a UNI offense that hit .309 coming in by hurling eight shutout innings and giving up just two singles. He walked three, struck out seven, allowed only one runner beyond first base and never surrendered more than one baserunner in an inning.
The sophomore righthander upped his record to 10-0, tying him with Jarrod Mays in 1995 for the best start in school history. Clubb completed the conference season alone with a 7-0 record and 1.99 ERA, tossing at least seven innings in all eight league starts.
The bats were quiet until the fifth when Brayden Drake turned a one-out double into a run with the aid of a fly out and a wild pitch, extending the MSU lead to 4-0.
Drake made the score 5-0 in the seventh, driving in Ben Woodbury with one out after the Bears’ centerfielder reached on an error to open the inning and got to second when Fonseca threw a wild pickoff attempt. Drake stole second after the RBI single, and Carlson turned on a 3-1 offering from Fonseca and lined his 15th homer of the season over the right field wall for a 7-0 lead.
Keane got into the action in the eighth, driving in Ryan Mantle with a one-out single and Drake followed with a sac fly to bring Woodbury in from third to make the score 9-0.
Josh Mazzola and Mantle singled in the ninth before Woodbury and Keane smacked back-to-back doubles to plate three more runs and give the Bears a 12-0 lead.
UNI’s Brandon Douglas and Brett Featherston each hit solo homers in the ninth off Kyle Dyer, who also struck out a pair of Panthers in the frame.
Game two of the series is Friday at 6:30 p.m.
