MINNEAPOLIS – Missouri State plated four runs in the sixth inning to break open a one-run game and rode seven strong innings from Dylan Coleman to claim a 7-2 victory that evened its series with Minnesota Saturday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Missouri State (11-3) broke on top for good on Jack Duffy's two-out double in the fifth, snapping a 1-1 tie after Alex Jefferson delivered his second key hit of the game. The Bears, who have outscored the opposition by a 21-0 margin in the sixth inning this season, then sent 10 batters to the plate as part of their four-run outburst, using five walks, a hit batsman and just one infield single to put the game out of reach.

Coleman (2-0) limited the Gophers offense to a pair of solo home runs, scattering four hits while striking out seven without issuing a walk over his 7.0 frames. Trey Turner followed Coleman's effort with five punchouts in two hitless innings of relief to close out the decision, stopping the Bears' losing streak at two games. 

Jefferson went 2-for-4 with his fifth home run as a Bear and a career-best three runs scored in leading an MSU offense that featured seven different players with an RBI in the victory.

The two teams traded solo homers in the second inning, with Jefferson and Minnesota's Micah Coffey both launching their first long balls of the season. From there, both starting pitchers seized control to keep the game even at 1-1 through the fourth inning. After Coffey's leadoff blast in the second, Coleman retired 13 of the next 15 hitters he faced, while UM's Brett Schulze would not allow another MSU hit until Jefferson led off the fifth with a double down the right field line to set up the Bears' go-ahead rally.

Held hitless in their previous 17 at-bats with runners on base, the Bears finally broke through with a clutch from Duffy, who scorched a Schulze offering into the gap in right-center to hand his club a 2-1 lead.

After a 1-2-3 home half of the fifth from Coleman, the Bears generated their key surge thanks to the charity of the Gophers pitching staff. Jeremy Eierman started the threat by drawing the first walk of the game for either squad to lead off the inning, before Schulze plunked Jake Burger with a two-strike delivery. Justin Paulsen's sharp grounder to the right side resulted in an infield single that loaded the bases. Run-scoring grounders by Aaron Meyer and Drew Millas stretched the MSU lead to 4-1, before back-to-back walks to Ryan Skalnik and Hunter Steinmetz with the bases loaded made it a five-run cushion.

Minnesota (9-5) cut the margin to 6-2 on Matt Stemper's one-out solo blast in the seventh, but the Bears answered in the top of the eighth on Eierman's run-scoring chopper after a perfectly-executed hit-and-run single by Steinmetz followed a walk to Landan Ruff.

Schulze (1-2) took the loss for the Gophers after fanning five Bears and allowing five runs on four hits in 5 1/3 innings.

The Bears and Gophers will meet in the rubber match of the series Sunday (March 12) at 1 p.m.