March 15, 2015 Box Score
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Missouri State overcame a late Kansas State rally with a three-run eighth inning to pull out a 10-7 victory over the Wildcats in the final game of the two clubs' series at Tointon Stadium Sunday afternoon. The Bears, who saw a four-run lead evaporate in the seventh, registered 16 hits on the day to score in six of the contest's nine innings.
Spencer Johnson's third hit of the game proved to be the biggest, as the junior's two-out, bases-loaded single drove in all three baserunners to snap a 7-7 tie in the top of the eighth inning.
The Bears (10-6) wrapped up the win behind Bryan Young (1-0), who shut down the Wildcats attack over the final two frames to earn his first victory of the season. Young rebounded from a two-out KSU rally, highlighted by Max Brown's two-out, bases-loaded double that cleared the bases and brought the Wildcats all the way back from a 7-3 deficit in the seventh.
But MSU answered immediately, as leadoff man Dylan Becker lined a double to left-center to start the eighth, before Justin Paulsen's shot to right-center put runners at second and third with nobody out. An intentional walk to pinch-hitter Aaron Meyer loaded the bases, but Jake Burger's soft liner to second put the Wildcats within one out of escaping the jam.
Johnson, who finished the day 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored, lined a 2-0 pitch from Brandon Erickson (0-1) into left, and a miscue by left-fielder Danny Krause allowed the ball to roll all the way to the warning track for a three-run MSU lead.
MSU's bounce-back win followed a strong start that appeared to have starter Jordan Knutson and the Bears in full control through the middle innings of the contest. After being held to 13 combined hits over the first two games of the series, the Bears broke out the bats early in game three, recording the first 10 hits of the day to establish a four-run lead. A pair of two-out hits by Eduardo Castro produced runs in the first and third innings to stake Missouri State to a 2-0 lead, before back-to-back RBI singles from Tate Matheny and Joey Hawkins in the fourth extended the Bears' cushion to 4-0.
Shane Conlon broke up Knutson's no-hit bid with a one-out solo shot in the home half of the fourth, and KSU scored again in the fifth to slice its deficit in half. But, with the bases loaded, Knutson beat Conlon to the bag on a chopper to first to squash the Wildcats' rally.
Missouri State responded with two tallies of its own in the fifth to reclaim their four-run advantage. A leadoff single by Burger, followed by a walk to Johnson set the table for Hawkins' sacrifice fly after Matheny was hit by a two-strike offering from Brandon Courville to load the bases. Becker drew a walk to load them up again, before Matheny slid into third ahead of the fielder on Castro's high bouncer that brought in the sixth MSU run of the game.
The bottom half of the sixth started ominously for the Bears, as back-to-back hits by Krause and Serratore ended Knutson's day. Zach Merciez promptly induced a 5-4-3 double play ball to prevent a big inning by the Wildcats, but Brown's single to left chased home Krause to make it a 6-3 game.
The Bears answered the Wildcats with a single run in the top of the seventh, as Burger's third hit of the game--a double down the left-field line--brought home Blake Graham after a leadoff walk started the inning.
K-State mounted its key scoring chance with the help of a leadoff walk to Carter Yagi and a Clayton Dalrymple base hit to begin the seventh. Alex Jefferson took over mound duties for the Bears and promptly dispatched Conlon on a called third strike and coaxed a pop up to second from Krause. Back-to-back walks kept the threat alive, however, and Brown made Young pay by lacing the right-hander's 1-0 pitch into the gap in left-center for the tying double.
Brown led KSU's offense by going 3-for-4 with four RBIs, while Dalrymple also added three hits.
In addition to Johnson's heroics and Burger's career-high three hits, the Bears got multi-hit efforts from Castro (2-for-6), Matheny (2-for-4) and Hawkins (2-for-3) in locking up the 1,099th career victory for head coach Keith Guttin.
After spending the first five weeks of the season on the road, the Bears are slated to open the home portion of their 2015 schedule Tuesday (March 17) with a 3:05 p.m. game against UALR.
