NORMAL, Ill. – Missouri State came up short in both games of Saturday's doubleheader at Illinois State, falling 4-3 in eight innings and 3-1 to the Redbirds at Duffy Bass Field.

The Bears (16-22, 6-13 Missouri Valley Conference) were solid on the mound and saw several hits taken away by the ISU (21-29, 11-12) defense on a cool, damp afternoon.

The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Game 1 Recap – Illinois State 4, Missouri State 3 (8 innings)
Illinois State scored the winning run on a Missouri State throwing error in the bottom of the eighth inning for the 4-3 victory.

With the scheduled seven inning contest now in extras, the Redbirds started with a runner on second, got a leadoff sacrifice bunt down on a 1-2 count, and MSU's Trey Ziegenbein (6-1) threw wide at first to allow the winning run to score.

The Redbirds took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a double, two singles and an error, and the Bears chipped away to pull even at 2-2, with Greg Ziegler scoring on Cam Cratic's sacrifice fly in the third and Ben Whetstone drawing a leadoff walk and scoring on Blake Mozley's grounder to first in the fourth.

MSU starter Matt Russell retired nine Redbirds in a row after ISU's initial offensive burst, then yielded a two-out walk followed by Kyle Soberano's RBI double in the fourth to make it 3-2 Redbirds.

Drake Baldwin extended his hit streak to 18 games with a leadoff single in the sixth and scored on a throwing error to even the game at 3-3.

Whetstone reached safely in all four plate appearances, and the Bears committed two errors in the game for the first time since April 18.

Game 2 Recap – Illinois State 3, Missouri State 1
Illinois State's Sean Sinisko out-dueled Missouri State's Hayden Minton, tossing a complete game in the ISU win. Minton fired a career-high seven innings and matched his career best with six strikeouts for the Bears, yielding five hits and two walks.

The Redbirds jumped ahead 2-0 in the first thanks to a walk and three singles, and Minton settled in after that, retiring the next 10 ISU hitters on 25 pitches.

Missouri State cut Illinois State's lead in half in the third after Jaden Rolffs walked and worked his way to third base before scoring on a Jack Duffy ground out.

ISU added an insurance run on Jake McCaw's solo home run in the sixth to conclude the scoring.

Baldwin singled with two out in the ninth to extend his hitting streak to 19 games, and Walker Jenkins went 2-for-3 for MSU's only multi-hit effort.