GREENVILLE, N.C. – Missouri State rebounded from a sluggish start to its first trip to North Carolina with a 7-4 win over No. 24 ECU on day two of the Keith LeClair Classic Saturday evening at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
Drew Millas turned in a career night at the plate with four hits, while
Dylan Coleman logged seven strong innings to earn his second mound victory of the season.
Millas reached safely in all five of his plate appearances, going a career-best 4-for-4 with a key two-run single in the seventh inning, and
Logan Geha came through with a pair of run-scoring hits to help power a Bears lineup that totaled 13 hits in MSU's first regular-season victory over a ranked foe since April 3, 2015.
Coleman (2-0) posted his third quality start in as many outings this season, striking out eight while allowing three runs on six hits over 7.0 frames. The junior right-hander picked up steam as the evening progressed, fanning two hitters in each of his last two innings.
One day after being held to their lowest single-game hit total (1) in nearly five years, the Bears (5-3) broke out their bats early against the Pirates. With one out in the second, the first of
Hunter Steinmetz's two singles started a string of three-straight hits for MSU. After Steinmetz swiped second for his team-leading fourth steal of the season,
Jack Duffy drove a double into the gap in left-center to put the Bears on the scoreboard. Geha followed with a base hit to left, bringing in Duffy for a 2-0 MSU lead.
A leadoff walk to
John Privitera initiated a third-inning rally, and back-to-back singles from Millas and
Ben Whetstone negated a second-inning tally by the Pirates that had momentarily sliced the Bears' lead in half.
Coleman got a lift from his defense in both the fourth and fifth innings to maintain the margin. Following a two-out walk, Geha gunned down Drew Henrickson attempting to steal second for the final out of the fourth. After a walk to Dusty Baker started the home half of the fifth,
Landan Ruff tracked down a Jeremy Whitehead liner in left-center, spun and fired to
Jeremy Eierman, who then nailed the ECU baserunner attempting to return to first base for a momentum-swinging double play.
MSU took advantage of a Pirate fielding error on
Sam Faith's roller to short in the sixth, using a Steinmetz sacrifice and Geha's clutch two-out single to right to stretch the lead to 4-1.
ECU would answer, scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth behind Spencer Brickhouse's third hit of the game—an RBI double off the wall in left. Alec Burleson came through as well, lacing an RBI single to center to bring in Brickhouse and cut the MSU lead to one run.
But the Bears came right back with a two-spot of their own in the seventh, getting a leadoff double from Privitera, and back-to-back singles from Eierman and Millas to reclaim their three-run cushion.
Connor Litton brought the Pirates (7-3) back to within two runs with his second home run of the season with one out in the eighth. But
Matt Russell slammed the door shut on ECU, retiring the final two hitters of the inning after the tying run came to the plate.
Eierman, who finished 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored, added an insurance run in the ninth, belting his first homer of the year to left to account for the final margin. Russell picked up where he left off in the eighth, setting the Pirates down in order to wrap up the win and his second save as a Bear.
Steinmetz added a 2-for-4 effort, and the top three hitters in the MSU batting order—Privitera, Eierman and Millas—combined to go 7-for-13 and reach base safely in nine of their 15 plate appearances.
Up next, the Bears will conclude their stay in Greenville Sunday, when they square off against Pepperdine at 10 a.m.
