SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State used a six-run, seven-hit rally in the bottom of the fifth to propel the Bears (14-11, 2-2 MVC) past visiting Loyola, 9-1, here Saturday in the first game in the three-game MVC series here.
 
Madison Jones went 3-for-3 for MSU, while Erika Velasquez Zimmer, Hailee Vigneaux and Bethany Sullinger collected two hits apiece for the Bears. MSU also got a complete-game effort from junior Holly Kelley who struck out five and allowed five hits in six innings of work.
 
After Loyola scored first on a double by Shannon McGee in the top of the second, the Bears evened the score in the third behind a two-out single from Vigneaux.
 
The Bears then blew it open in the sixth, sending 11 hitters to the plate for one of their biggest innings of the season. Velasquez Zimmer plated two with a double to left-center, and then Vigneaux drove her home. Mary Stephens later drove in Vigneaux on a hit to left-center on a play in which Olivia Roark was thrown out at the plate. Darrian Frost then scored Stephens with a hit to center field before Jones capped the scoring with a single to right-center.
 
Missouri State continued the assault in the sixth, tacking on two more runs with a double by Sullinger, her second of the game, to put the run-rule in effect and end the contest.
 
Loyola (17-8, 0-4 MVC) left five runners on base and got 5.1 innings of work from Kiley Jones who fell to 10-5 on the season.
 
The teams will square off again Sunday with a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. at Killian Stadium.
 
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