SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Behind a four-run first inning and the pitching of Logan Wiley, Missouri State opened its 2020 home season in style with a 6-2 victory over Maine Friday afternoon at Hammons Field.
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Dakota Kotowski's three-run homer punctuated the Bears' big opening inning before Wiley limited Maine to five hits in 7.0 scoreless innings. The Bears (7-6) added single tallies in the second and fourth frames, and Wiley (2-1) struck out six hitters without issuing a walk to log his third quality start in four outings this season.
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Logan Geha, who ignited a second-inning rally with his lead off single, paced MSU's nine-hit attack with a 3-for-3 afternoon at the dish, while Kotowski added to his team-leading RBI total with his third home run of the season—and his second in as many games.
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Sparked by Jack Duffy's leadoff double, the Bears pounced on Maine starting pitcher Nick Sinacola (0-4) in the first, putting four of their first five hitters aboard to build a 4-0 lead. Grant Wood followed Duffy's liner down the right-field line with a walk, and Drake Baldwin brought in the first run of the game with a double to right-center. After a Ben Whetstone ground ball for the first out of the inning, Kotowski unloaded on a two-strike offering for a back-breaking three-run shot to right-center.
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Geha kept the pressure on Sinacola and the Black Bears with a base hit to left to open the second, before a pair of walks loaded the bases. The Bears' senior catcher then took advantage of a passed ball on a called third strike to scamper home with the fifth MSU run of the game.
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Whetstone added to the MSU advantage with a two-out solo shot to right in the fourth, joining Kotowski with a home run in his second consecutive contest.
Wiley worked around two-out threats in the first and third frames, each time escaping potential danger by inducing inning-ending fly balls. The right-hander also rebounded to neutralize MSU defensive miscues in each of his final two innings, fanning the side in the fifth and coaxing a key double play on a liner to Mason Hull at short in the sixth.
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Maine (0-11) broke through for a pair of runs in the eighth against three MSU relievers. A Cody Pasic single and a Joe Bramanti double set up the rally, with Ryan Turenne's ground ball to first bringing in the first Black Bear run of the game. A wild pitch on a strikeout extended the inning and allowed a second Maine run to cross the plate before Trey Ziegenbein struck out Connor Goodman for the final out of the inning.
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Hayden Juenger put the finishing touches on the MSU win with a perfect ninth, striking out two of the three Maine hitters he faced.
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Whetstone turned in a 2-for-3 effort at the plate to compliment Geha's third three-hit game as a Bear.
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Pasic was the lone Black Bear to record a multi-hit effort, going 2-or-4 with a double. Dillon Stimpson logged 3.0 innings of two-hit relief after Sinacola allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits in his 5.0 frames.
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The Bears and Black Bears continue their series with a 2 p.m. contest Saturday, before concluding the weekend with a Noon start on Sunday.
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