SPRINGFIELD – Madison Hunsaker's go-ahead home run in game one and Daphne Plummer's 11th-inning walk-off single in the nightcap boosted Missouri State (11-8) to sweep visiting Northern Iowa (9-12) with respective wins of 2-1 and 4-3 here Saturday at Killian Stadium.
 
"What another great display of the fight our team has," said head coach Holly Hesse.  "They continue to battle every pitch and it's fantastic to see that pay off with two key league wins.  All three of our pitchers had great performances today, starting with Steff's (Dickerson) complete-game effort in game one.  Our bats came through with clutch hitting with Madison's (Hunsaker) home run and Daphne's (Plummer) walk-off hit."
 
Game 1
Bears 2, UNI 1
Playing their first Missouri Valley Conference series since 2019, the Bears came out on top of a pitcher's duel in the opener with Hunsaker's sixth-inning blast serving as the game-winner.
 
Both teams did their scoring courtesy of the long ball with the only blemish to MSU starter Steffany Dickerson's (4-4) outing coming on a solo home run from UNI's Kamryn Shaffer in the third inning.  Dickerson went the distance for the fourth time this season and finished her dominant performance with seven strikeouts, three of them resulting on key inning-ending situations.
 
Panthers pitcher Erica Oler (1-4) had a handle on the MSU lineup through the first five innings where she allowed two hits until the Bears' table-turning sixth inning.
 
It was Bailey Greenlee who set things in motion in the bottom of the sixth, leading off the frame with a single through the right side.  Hunsaker followed by launching a one-out pitch over the left field fence to secure MSU's 2-1 come-from-behind win.  It was the second straight late-game go-ahead home run for the Bears after Alex Boze's three-run shot in the seventh inning proved to be the game-winner of Missouri State's 4-3 victory at Saint Louis on Tuesday (March 16).
 
Darian Frost and Kelly Metter joined Hunsaker and Greenlee with the MSU hits in the contest with Frost earning extra bases on hers.
 
Game 2
Bears 4, UNI 3 (11 inn.)
The Bears battled the Panthers for 11 innings in the nightcap before ending the thrilling bout in celebratory fashion on Plummer's game-winning hit. 
 
After UNI took the lead on a Sammey Bunch solo home run, the Bears sent the back-and-forth contest to extras in the bottom of the seventh.  Down to the final out, Olivia Krehbiel smacked a single to the grass that slipped through the legs of the left fielder and allowed Plummer to race all the way home from first for the equalizing run. 
 
With a dramatic three scoreless extra frames, Missouri State utilized its small-ball playbook to set up Plummer's heroic swing in the bottom of the 11th.  Skyler Shaw led off the inning by laying down a perfectly-placed bunt to allow the speedy freshman to reach base safely.  Greenlee followed with a sac bunt to move Shaw into scoring position before Plummer walked it off with a drive through the right side of the infield.
 
The Bears used three pitchers to go toe-to-toe with the UNI starter Kailyn Packard (6-4) who tossed all 10.1 innings for the Panthers.  Hunsaker drew the start for MSU and went five frames before being relieved by Gracie Johnston in the sixth.  Game one starter Dickerson came in for the final 3.1 innings, allowing just one hit to earn her second win of the day.
 
While UNI once again produced its scoring on home runs with three solo blasts, MSU took advantage of two of the Panthers' four errors to take a 2-1 lead in the fifth. 
 
Plummer and Krehbiel had multi-hit performances with Plummer adding a walk to reach base safely four times.  Frost recorded another double for her second of the day.  
 
The two teams return to Killian tomorrow (March 21) for the series finale with first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m.