SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Behind an early offensive explosion that included two-homer days from Matt Brown and Ben Whetstone, Missouri State built a seven-run lead and never looked back en route to a 12-4 victory over No. 30 Arkansas State Friday afternoon at Hammons Field.

Whetstone's second-inning solo blast to right opened the scoring, before Brown added a two-run clout later in the frame to hand the Bears (7-4) and starting pitcher Dylan Coleman a 3-0 advantage. The duo powered up again over the following two frames, with Whetstone clobbering a Bradey Welsh offering for a two-run bomb to right-center following a two-out Jack Duffy single in the third, and Brown leading off the fourth with a solo shot to left for a 6-0 MSU lead.

Coleman (3-0) wouldn't need any additional support, as the right-hander handcuffed the Red Wolves throughout the day en route to his third victory in four outings this season. The Bears stretched the lead to seven runs on a Jeremy Eierman triple and a Hunter Steinmetz single in the fourth before the visitors would register their first hit of the game. Coleman held ASU hitless through five innings before Grant Hawkins singled to start the sixth and came around to score on Caleb Squire's double.

Coleman avoided a big inning with three straight strikeouts to end the threat, then worked a 1-2-3 seventh to finish his day. In all, the junior allowed just one run on two hits, while fanning six and walking five in 7.0 innings. From there reigning Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year Jake Fromson entered the game for his first appearance of the 2018 season and promptly worked a scoreless eighth, despite plunking a pair of ASU hitters. 

MSU extended its lead to as many as 11 runs, getting another run-scoring hit from Steinmetz in the sixth, before a catcher's interference in the seventh led to four unearned runs for the Bears. Drew Millas's two-out, bases-loaded double to left was the highlight, as the sophomore catcher extended his career-best hit streak to six games.

Whetstone and Brown, who entered the contest with two career home runs between them, combined to go 4-for-5 with four homers, six runs scored and six runs batted-in. Eierman produced his second three-hit effort in a row, coming up just a home run short of hitting for the cycle, while Steinmetz finished with two hits and a pair of RBIs to record his third multi-hit effort in MSU's last four games.

The Bears totaled 12 hits, as well as a season-high 28 total bases in the victory. Thanks to the efforts of Brown and Whetstone, the Bears also logged their first four-homer game since April 8 of last year in an 11-8 home win over DBU. The offensive eruption also continued a recent trend in the series for the Bears, who had totaled 28 runs in their two most-recent meetings with ASU.

Welsh (1-1) suffered the mound defeat for ASU, which scratched out three unearned runs against Bears reliever Zach Gibbs in the ninth. Welsh, a junior from Marshfield, Mo., allowed seven runs on nine hits, while striking out five Bears over 4.0 innings.

Up next, the Bears and Red Wolves will square off in game two of the series Saturday (March 10), beginning with a 2 p.m. first pitch.