JONESBORO, Ark. – Arkansas State scored nine times over a three-inning stretch and touched up Missouri State for a season-best 15 hits overall to run away with a 14-2 victory over the Bears Friday evening in the opening contest of a three-game series at Tomlinson Stadium.

The Red Wolves (9-5) scored in five-straight frames, using a pair of second-inning triples to grab a 2-0 lead against MSU starter Davis Schwab, then broke the game open with four more tallies in the third, thanks in large part to three-consecutive two-out hits.

ASU, which got a strong start from Zach Jackson, would extend its lead to 9-0 before the Bears (3-8) broke into the hits column on the scoreboard. The home club took advantage of five walks and a hit batsman to score three times without the aid of a hit in the fourth. MSU reliever Nick Schmidt plunked Kyle MacDonald with a bases-loaded offering, then forced home two more Red Wolves with bases on balls.

Jackson (1-1) locked up his first victory of the year by surrendering two runs (both unearned) on just three hits over his 6.0 innings.

MSU pitching would hand out 10 walks on the night, two of which combined to produce the 10th ASU run of the game in the fifth after the Bears mounted their first offensive threat of the game in the top half of the inning. Brooks Zimmerman's leadoff single snapped Jackson's no-hit bid, before a throwing error on Joey Polak's bouncer to third put a pair of runners on base with nobody out. Collin Clayton reached on an error, before Jack Duffy and Mason Hull came through with run-scoring ground balls to slice the deficit to seven runs.

Freshman reliever Peyton Carson followed Schwab and Schmidt with a solid start to his third collegiate mound appearance, allowing one ASU run on two hits in his first three frames. The left-hander stopped the Red Wolves' scoring string at four-straight innings with a scoreless sixth, then retired the first two hitters of the seventh before the home club fired up its offense again. Alex Howard laced a base hit to left and MacDonald unloaded on a 3-1 offering to launch a towering two-run shot to right field for a 12-2 ASU lead.

Drew Tipton and Will Zimmerman added two-out, RBI singles in the eighth to account for the final margin. All nine starters in the ASU lineup recorded at least one hit, led by Jaylon Deshazier's 2-for-4 effort that included a double, a triple, two runs scored and a pair of RBIs. Jake Jablonski drove in four runs for the Red Wolves, while both Zimmerman (two stolen bases) and MacDonald (three RBIs) reached safely in four-straight trips to the plate.

Schwab (1-3) sustained his third-straight mound defeat after allowing six runs on eight hits and three walks over his 3.0 innings.

Game two of the Bears and Red Wolves series has been pushed back to a 7 p.m. start due to impending inclement weather, with the weekend finale still set for 1 p.m. Sunday.