SAN MARCOS, Texas – Behind a career-best 4 1/3 shutout innings of relief from Davis Schwab and a resurgent offense that totaled 12 hits, Missouri State notched its first victory of the 2019 season with a 6-2 decision over Utah Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Ballpark.

Schwab struck out a career-high six hitters and scattered three hits to keep the Utes off the scoreboard, while John Privitera reached base in each of his five trips to plate and scored three times to ignite the Bears' lineup.

Privitera, who went 3-for-3 with a stolen base on the day, sparked his club from the onset and ultimately ran his streak of reaching base safely via a hit, walk or hit by pitch to eight-consecutive plate appearances extending to the fifth inning of Friday's season opener against Nevada. The junior second baseman doubled off Utah starter Riley Pierce to lead off the contest, swiped third with one out and scored on Drew Millas's sacrifice fly to center for an early 1-0 MSU lead.

The duo of Privitera and Millas would strike again in the third to add to the Bears' cushion. With one out, Privitera coaxed a walk from Riley, moved into scoring position on Collin Clayton's first hit as a Bear and eventually trotted home from third on a Millas grounder to shortstop. Clayton came home moments later on a wild pitch to hike the MSU lead to three runs.

The Utes (0-2) began to chip away at the Bears' lead in the home half of the third, taking advantage of some two-out charity from MSU to put their first run of the game on the board. After  MSU starting pitcher Hayden Juenger quickly retired the first two batters of the inning, Zack Moeller drew a free pass to keep the inning alive. Juenger was called for a balk on an aborted  pickoff attempt to first, and Erick Migueles delivered a run-scoring single on the next offering to slice the lead to 3-1.

Schwab would enter the fray after three of the first four Utah hitters singled to start the fourth. The senior lefty struck out Oliver Dunn for the second out, but forced home a run by walking Chandler Anderson, leaving the Bears with a one-run lead. He promptly fanned Moeller to extinguish the threat, then froze the potential tying run at second in the fifth with three straight strikeouts after Migueles doubled to start the inning.

That would prove to be the Utes' best chance to pull even, as MSU converted a leadoff double by Millas into a run in the sixth, then added two more tallies in the seventh to stretch the margin to 6-2. Logan Geha's bases-loaded roller to the right side brought Millas home with the fourth MSU run, giving Schwab and the Bears defense some much-needed breathing room.

Mason Hull's leadoff double in the seventh sparked another rally, as Privitera was hit by a pitch and Millas was intentionally walked after a Clayton sac bunt. Brooks Zimmerman made it a three-run game with his third single of the afternoon, before Joey Polak recorded the first RBI of his MSU career with a base hit that plated Privitera with his third run.

Just two Utah batters reached base over the final three innings, as Schwab and sophomore closer Connor Sechler combined to allow just one Ute hit from the sixth inning on. Sechler slammed the door with a hitless inning-and-a-third effort, retiring four batters in a row after hitting Briley Knight with his first pitch of the season upon relieving Schwab in the eighth.

Both Privitera and Zimmerman matched personal single-game bests with three hits, while Juenger scattered five hits and struck out a pair of Utes over 3.1 innings in his first collegiate start.

Migueles was one of three Utes to log multi-hit performances, as both Rykker Tom and Chase Fernlund also delivered two-hit games. Pierce (0-1) was tagged with the loss after yielding three runs on five hits in his 5.0 frames.

Missouri State (1-1) will look to make it two wins in a row Sunday, when it takes on host Texas State at 3 p.m., on the final day of the tournament at Bobcat Ballpark.