SPRINGFIELD -- The Missouri State Bears turned in their best offensive performance in six weeks to sweep a Missouri Valley Conference doubleheader from Indiana State, nipping the Sycamores, 8-7 in nine innings in the first game before scratching out a pair of late runs for a 5-3 victory in the nightcap Saturday (May 1) at Killian Stadium. Senior pitcher Lauren McGinley returned to the winner's circle for the first time in four weeks, while the MSU offense banged out 22 hits on the afternoon, including five from junior Christa Gammon.
McGinley (6-9) picked up both wins for the Bears to record her first victories in the circle since an April 2 win at Creighton. She held Indiana State to three runs on six hits over 6.1 innings in game two after earning the game one win in relief by holding the Sycamores scoreless over an inning-and-a-third to help MSU overcome a season-high six errors in the field.
At the plate for the Bears, Gammon went 5-of-8 and scored three runs in all, while junior outfielder Tyler Porter also posted a big afternoon with four hits, a walk and a pair of runs scored in eight trips to the plate.
The Bears (16-28, 11-10 MVC) used the long ball to overcome an early two-run deficit in game one, as Jenna Schwark's grand slam highlighted Missouri State's five-run third inning. Madison Hargrove set the table by drawing a lead-off walk ahead of an infield single to third from Gammon, and Porter drove in the Bears' first run of the afternoon with a sharply-hit ball that ISU pitcher Lindsey Beisser couldn't corral. Schwark then blasted Beisser's 2-2 offering over the leftfield wall to stake the Bears to a 5-2 lead. Caitlin Chapin then gave the home team some breathing room in the fifth with a two-run shot to straight-away centerfield that pushed the MSU lead to 7-3.
The round-trippers gave MSU its first multi-homer game in a month, but it wouldn't be enough to hold off the Sycamores, who came back with a single tally in the fourth before knotting the score by plating four two-out runs in the sixth. Indiana State's rally was kept alive by a pair of Bear fielding miscues, and Beisser's two-run double to right-center chased home two baserunners to draw ISU even at 7-7.
Schwark and Gammon keyed the MSU offense throughout the first contest with three hits apiece. Not surprisingly, both played pivotal roles in the Bears' ninth-inning rally. Gammon and Porter started things off with back-to-back infield singles with one out. Schwark followed with a slow roller to the right side of the infield that first baseman Bailey Wittenauer fielded cleanly, but fired wildly to first, allowing Gammon to come all the way around with the winning run.
Just as they did in the first game, the Sycamores grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the nightcap after four of their first five batters of the game reached base via hits. Alyssa Doyle doubled down the leftfield line to start the rally, then came home on Kacy Kestner's infield single and a Bubba Weiss throwing error for a 1-0 ISU lead. Following two more hits from Stephanie Robinson and Beisser, Stephanie Jonson's infield fly dropped untouched to bring Robinson to the plate for the Sycamores second run of the contest.
The Bears struck back in the bottom half of the first, as Ashley Knehans came through with a two-out double to right-center to drive in both Porter and Schwark to even the score.
Weiss would put MSU on top the following inning when she led-off the frame with her fourth home run of the season-a no-doubter to dead center off ISU starter Sara Evans.
ISU (18-29, 3-18 MVC) bounced back with another two-out run in the fourth to pull even with the Bears. Jonson coaxed a one-out walk from McGinley, advanced to second on Amber Paz's sacrifice bunt, then scored when Alex Lucas lined a 2-0 pitch to center for an RBI single.
But the Bears took control of the game for good in the fifth, once again getting key hits from Gammon and Porter to set up another MSU scoring opportunity. Schwark laid down a sac bunt to move both runners into scoring position, and Chapin's swing and miss at a third strike proved fruitful, as the pitch in the dirt forced Lucas to throw to first to complete the putout. Gammon seized the opportunity, racing home on the throw to give the Bears a 4-3 lead. MSU tacked on an insurance run in the sixth on Weiss's line-drive single to right-center that plated Alaina Burkhart, who reached on a tap single in front of the plate to start the inning.
After ISU threatened with a baserunners in the seventh, sophomore Natalie Rose came on with one out to close out the win with her third save of the season. She promptly got Doyle to ground to second, where Gammon tagged the advancing baserunner, then tossed the ball to Knehans at first for the game-ending double play.
Up next, the Bears and Sycamores will wrap up their three-game series with a single contest Sunday (May 2) at noon at Killian.
