The Missouri State baseball team was knocked around early and often by Northern Iowa in its regular season finale Saturday, dropping a Missouri Valley Conference contest by a 10-5 score at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo, Iowa.
The Bears completed the regular season at 38-15 overall and 18-6 in the Valley and will take the No. 2 seed into next week’s league tournament. UNI improved to 29-22 and 14-10 in conference play.
UNI got on the board in the first after Dane Embury led off with a single, stole second and scored on a Chris Lopez two-out single. Then in the second, a one-out error on a double play ball prolonged the inning and allowed UNI to load the bases for Travis Hendrix, when sent a two-run single up the middle wih two outs to extend the lead to 3-0.
The Bears got two men aboard with no outs in the second but had the scoring threat erased by a double play and again had runners on first and second in the third, this time with two outs, only to come up emtpy-handed both times.
The Panthers, however, continued to capitalize, opening the home half of the third with an error and a Brett Featherston double. Featherston’s double brought Cody Aycock in from the bullpen, inheriting runners on second and third with nobody out. Brett Douglas brought Lopez in with a ground out and Eddie Almonte singled home Featherson for a 5-0 lead. The wheels fell off after that, with a hit batsmen and an error loading the bases for an Embury grand slam that gave UNI a 9-0 advantage through three innings.
Ben Carlson put Missouri State on the board in the fifth, belting a three-run homer off the scoreboard in right-center that plated Nolan Keane and Brayden Drake for a 9-3 score. Carlson’s round-tripper was his 16th of the season, the most for a Bear since Ryan Howard hit 18 in 2000.
UNI scored one in the bottom of the fifth, but Ryan Mantle doubled in Chris Playter in the top of the sixth to match it and make the score 10-4.
Playter added a two-out RBI single in the ninth for the final score.
The Bears open the State Farm MVC Tournament on Thursday in Wichita. Game time and opponent have yet to be determined.
