Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 STARKSVILLE, Miss. – Missouri State closed out the Alex Wilcox Memorial Tournament by splitting day two of its season-opening series here Monday.
 
For the second time in as many days, the Bears (3-1) shutout Stephen F. Austin with a 4-0 victory to give MSU a 3-0 start to its season, a feat the Bears last accomplished in 2015.  In the nightcap, Missouri State suffered its first setback at the hands of No. 22 Mississippi State, falling 5-0.
 
Game 1
Bears 4, SFA 0                                                                                         
Over the course of two games, Missouri State outscored the Ladyjacks 11-0 with a combined shutout effort in Sunday's 7-0 win before pitchers Madison Hunsaker and Gracie Johnston took care of the SFA lineup again in today's triumph.
 
Hunsaker (2-0) followed up her two scoreless relief appearances from yesterday—which earned her a Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week nod—with another brilliant outing as she made her first start of 2021.  After striking out six of the first nine batters she faced, the lefty pitcher went on to post a final line of 5IP, 0ER, 2H and 6K.
 
After scoring three runs in the first two innings, a leadoff double from Tess Weakly to open the third, followed by a Darian Frost RBI single later in the inning resulted as the final run of MSU's 4-0 win.
 
The Bears followed suit of their games from day one in Starksville by putting runs on the board in the opening frame.  With the first three batters reaching to load the bases, Olivia Krehbiel plated her third RBI of the tournament with a sac fly to score the speedy Daphne Plummer.  A stolen base from Weakly later in the inning led to another run as Bailey Greenlee took advantage of the Ladyjacks errant throw to race home and give the Bears an early 2-0 advantage.
 
MSU scratched a run across in the second, doing so with a combination of more aggressive base running and a timely two-out hit.  After the first two batters were retired, Skyler Shaw drew a walk and stole second before Plummer came through with an RBI single up the middle.
 
Johnston closed the book on another combined shutout from the MSU pitching staff as she allowed just one base runner in her two innings of relief.
 
Plummer, Hunsaker, Weakly, Frost and Skyler Shaw provided the hits for MSU with Plummer adding three walks to reach base safely in all four of her at-bats.
 
Game 2
Bulldogs 5, Bears 0
Steffany Dickerson (1-1) held the Bulldogs scoreless in four of her six innings of work, but a three-run third and a two-run sixth spoiled the senior pitcher's second start of the season.  For the hosts, it was Aspen Wesley (1-0) who guided the Bulldogs to victory as she tossed five scoreless innings and combined with reliever Emily Williams to extinguish the hot-hitting Bears lineup.
 
The Bulldogs used back-to-back hits to kickstart its scoring in the third inning.  A one-out RBI single, followed by a double tacked on three runs for the home squad.
 
Then, in the fifth, a couple of ill-placed balls doomed the Bears defense as the Bulldogs added two more to their advantage.  A single down the left field line stayed fair to begin the rally and on the next at-bat Mississippi State's Anna Kate Segaris trickled a ball between the pitching circle and first base for an infield hit.  The Bulldogs strung together two more hits to plate their runs before the Bears were able to turn a double play to end the inning.
 
Missouri State put runners on the corners in consecutive innings, but were turned away by timely Wesley strikeouts on both occasions.  In the fourth, Hunsaker led off the inning with a double while a pair of steals and walks loaded the bases for the Bears before the threat was neutralized.  Plummer and Hunsaker, who were the only Bears batters to register a hit, produced their second knocks of the game in the fifth inning to create another scoring chance, but Wesley's eighth and final strikeout left the two runners stranded.  
 
Bears leadoff hitters reached base safely in three of the first four innings, but were unable to manufacture a run out of it as a total of six runners were left on base in the contest.
 
Up next for Missouri State is the Michelle Short Memorial Tournament hosted by Central Arkansas.  The Bears begin with games against Western Illinois (11:45 a.m.) and UCA (4 p.m.) on Friday, followed by Saturday matchups with Omaha (11 a.m.) and WIU (3:30 p.m.) and close out the tournament against Omaha (9 a.m.) on Sunday.