TULSA, Okla. – Missouri State scored in five of the first seven innings Tuesday afternoon on the way to an 8-2 win at Oral Roberts for the Bears' eighth opening-day victory in the last nine seasons.

Senior Ben Whetstone was 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI, scoring after his second career triple in the first inning, drawing a walk and coming home on Drake Baldwin's RBI single in the third for a 2-0 lead, then driving in Cam Cratic with an RBI single in the fourth to make it 5-0 and again with a sacrifice fly in the sixth for a 6-0 advantage.

Cratic entered as a pinch hitter in the fourth inning and promptly smacked a two-run single to left field in his first MSU plate appearance and capped his 3-for-4, three-RBI day with a double in the seventh that drove home Walker Jenkins for Missouri State's final run.

Baldwin added his second RBI single of the day to score Jack Duffy in the sixth as the Bears knocked 11 hits and showed their depth with 13 position players seeing action.

Ty Buckner got the start for the Bears and tossed four shutout innings with five strikeouts to earn the win in his first appearance since the NCAA Regional in 2018.

Missouri State's Logan Thomazin, Ian McMahon and Logan Wiley combined to allow just one hit over the next three innings of relief, and ORU (1-2) broke through two runs in the eighth to complete the scoring. In all, six MSU pitchers combined to fan 11 Golden Eagles while issuing just two walks.

The teams play again at 3 p.m. Wednesday.