SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri State quenched its offensive dry spell with balanced attack that included a nine-run, eighth-inning rally en route to a 13-3 victory over SIU Edwardsville Wednesday afternoon at Hammons Field.
Held to just two hits in a 2-0 loss to ORU on Tuesday, the Bears (9-8) snapped a scoreless deadlock—and a 14-inning scoreless drought—with a two-run fifth inning, then scored 11 times over its final two turns at bat to pull away from the Cougars. Joey Polak's two-out, bases-loaded double chased home a pair of runs to turn a one-run contest into a 4-1 Bears lead in the seventh, before MSU sent 13 men to the plate the following inning to put the game on ice.
Whetstone, McFarland and Pollack led a parade of six Bears who posted multi-hit performances, while Jack Duffy reached safely in five of his six plate appearances. In all, Missouri State pounded out a season-high 14 hits, six of which came in their key eighth-inning rally.
MSU starter Peyton Carson (1-3) was the key performer for the Bears early in the contest, as the sophomore limited the Cougars (8-7) to three hits over the first five innings to keep the game scoreless. The left-hander would yield his lone run in the sixth after back-to-back hits by Josh Ohl and Brett Pierson sliced the Bears two-run lead in half. Carson struck out four and scattered five hits in his 5.1 innings, earning his first collegiate victory for the Bears.
Fellow sophomore hurler Nick Schmidt followed Carson's effort with 2 2/3 perfect innings. The righty struck out three and dispatched all eight SIUE hitters he faced to preserve MSU's one-run margin.
Duffy, who drew three walks to go along with his fifth-inning, RBI double that plated the first run of the game, sparked the Bears' key seventh-inning rally with a leadoff walk. After a fielder's choice forced the runner at second, free passes to Drake Baldwin and Dakota Kotowski kept the inning alive and set the stage for Polak's liner into the gap in right-center that made it a three-run game.
Another walk—this one to Greg Ziegler—started MSU's nine-run rally in the eighth. John Privitera delivered an RBI single for his second hit of the game, and Wood doubled in two more to push the lead to 7-1. Baldwin was hit by a pitch, and Whetstone made the Cougars pay with a towering three-run shot to right for his third home run of the season. The Bears weren't done, as Polak lined another two-bagger off the wall in right, and McFarland launched a two-run shot that caromed off the out-of-town scoreboard beyond the MSU bullpen in left field.
Freshman Blake Mozley helped tack on the ninth run with his first hit as a Bear—a two-out double down the left-field line. Duffy's chopper to short was misplayed for a run-scoring error, stretching the MSU bulge to 13-1.
SIUE plated a pair of runs in the ninth on Parker Wielt's two-run double, but Mason Auer closed out the victory by fanning the side.
Ohl and Pierson led the Cougars with two-hit days, while David Llorens (0-1) suffered the loss despite striking out seven Bears and allowing just two runs on seven hits in his 5.0 innings.
Up next, the Bears travel to UC Irvine to open a three-game series with the Anteaters Friday (March 13) evening. First pitch from Cicerone Field in Irvine, Calif., is scheduled for 8 p.m. (CDT), followed by single games Saturday (8 p.m.) and Sunday (3 p.m.).
