SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri State turned in its best offensive performance of the new season Tuesday afternoon at Hammons Field, overpowering Central Arkansas with a six-run, sixth-inning rally en route to a 9-7 home-opening win that snapped a four-game skid for the Bears.
Tied at 2-2 entering the inning, the Bears (2-5) gashed UCA pitching for six-straight hits in the decisive frame, as eight-consecutive MSU hitters reached base to help the home club seize the lead for good.
Anthony Herron, Jr.'s RBI single plated the go-ahead run as part of a career-best day for the freshman, who also recorded the first home run by a Bear in 2019 with his solo shot into the left field bullpen to lead off the second inning.
Joey Polak also drove home a run with a base hit, before
Mason Hull's two-run double to left made it a 7-2 contest.
John Privitera followed with his third-consecutive single that brought home Hull for a six-run MSU cushion.
UCA (3-5) responded by scoring four times against MSU lefty
Nate Witherspoon in the seventh, taking advantage of singles by Joshmar Doran and Marco Navarro to set up run-producing hits from Beau Orlando and Nathaniel Sagdahl—as well as one of two MSU errors in the game—to slice the gap to just two runs.
But Bears closer
Connor Sechler kept the visitors at bay with a hitless eighth, then withstood a ninth-inning charge to lock up his first save of the season. The sophomore yielded his first run of 2019 in the ninth on Tyler Smith's double to left, but struck out Doran with the bases loaded to seal the victory.
Herron's first home game as a Bear began with a screaming liner that quickly cleared the left field fence on the second pitch he saw from UCA starter Logan Gilbertson. He would finish his day 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.
UCA knotted the score in the top of the third when Josh Ragan laced a double off MSU right-hander
Forrest Barnes to give the visiting Bears their first baserunner of the afternoon. A hit batsman and a Doran sacrifice placed two runners in scoring position, before Kolby Johnson's base hit made it a 1-1 game.
Barnes, who cruised through the first two frames, induced an infield pop up off the bat of Cole Fiori, then got Navarro to bounce out to first to avoid further damage.
MSU converted a leadoff walk to
Brooks Zimmerman and a throwing error into a run in the fourth, only to once again watch UCA pull even in its ensuing turn at bat. Back-to-back hits by Doran and Johnson set up Orlando's game-tying sac fly to center, making it a 2-2 contest.
Eight different Bears recorded at least one hit, as Privitera led MSU's 11-hit attack with a 3-for-5 day and Zimmerman and Hull scored two runs apiece. Barnes turned in a strong showing in his first collegiate start, allowing two runs on four hits with three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings, and Witherspoon (1-0) earned the victory with 2.1 innings of relief.
Gilbertson permitted two runs (one earned) on three hits over 3.2 innings, while Zach Smith (0-1) took the loss for UCA after allowing three runs on three hits and a pair of walks in his inning-and-a-third outing.
The Bears conclude their two-game midweek series with UCA Wednesday (Feb. 27) afternoon with a 3 p.m. contest at Hammons.
