Box Score | Season Stats | Highlights
 
SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State pounded out 15 hits and scored in six straight innings while riding the arm of starter Logan Wiley to a 12-2 victory over visiting Central Arkansas here Sunday in the rubber game of the three-game series at Hammons Field.
 
Wiley was impressive for the Bears (4-1), going 6.0 innings and allowing just three hits and striking out four to pick up the win.
 
UCA (1-2) plated the game's first two runs in the top of the third, capitalizing on a leadoff double from No. 9 hitter Christian Brasher to ignite an early spark for the visitors.
 
But the home side struck back with a vengeance in the bottom of the third as the Bears scored four times and batted around to take a 4-2 advantage and a lead they would never relinquish.  Logan Geha started the fireworks with a leadoff double before Jack Duffy singled him home. Drake Baldwin was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to tie the game, before Jaden Rolffs' grounder gave MSU the lead. Grant Wood capped the third-inning scoring with a bases-loaded walk.
 
MSU tacked on two more in the fourth on a double by Dakota Kotowski and an RBI groundout by Baldwin. Then in the fifth, a three-run homer by Jack Duffy – his second of the year – made it 9-2.
 
Duffy finished 2-for-3 with four RBI and three runs, while Kotowski and Walker Jenkins had 3-for-4 days. Baldwin drove in three, and Ben Whetstone was 2-for-5 to help the winning cause.
 
Logan Thomazin, Peyton Carson, and Hayden Juenger each pitched an inning in relief for Missouri State, combining to allow just one hit, no runs and five strikeouts out of the bullpen.
 
For its part, UCA was led by Benny Ayala who finished 2-for-4 with an RBI single as part of the two-run third by the purple Bears. Central Arkansas used nine pitchers on the afternoon, including starter Ryan Johnston who was chased in the third after allowing five hits and four earned runs through 2+ innings of work.
 
The Bears will conclude the home stand Tuesday at 3 p.m. when they entertain No. 20 Oklahoma State at Hammons Field.