CARBONDALE, Ill. – Missouri State got RBI singles from Cam Cratic in the seventh and ninth innings Tuesday to send its single elimination Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Tournament opener to extra innings, only to see Valparaiso get a two-run double in the top of the 10th to secure a 6-4 victory at Itchy Jones Stadium.
 
Valpo (15-33) collected 11 singles in the game before its first extra-base hit to win it, beginning with three in the first for a 1-0 lead.

Cratic drew a leadoff walk in the fourth as MSU's first baserunner, and Drake Baldwin drove him home with a triple before scoring on Ben Whetstone's two-out single for a 2-1 Missouri State lead.

VU got three singles and scored twice on ground outs to retake a 3-2 lead in the fifth, and then used a leadoff bunt single, stolen base and another single to make it 4-2 in the seventh.

A pair of two-out walks in the seventh set up Cratic's RBI hit for a 4-3 score, and the Bears (21-23) stranded the tying run on third in both the seventh and eighth frames before Cratic came through again in the ninth, driving in Walker Jenkins with two out for the 4-4 tie.

Valparaiso put two on in the 10th with a hit batsman and single to set up Parker Johnson's two-run double off Trey Ziegenbein (8-2), who pitched the final three innings after Logan Wiley went seven in the start and matched a career high with nine strikeouts for the Bears. The two combined for an MSU season-high 14 strikeouts without a walk.

The loss marked the first time since 1994 that the Bears qualified for the MVC Tournament but did not earn a victory in the event.

End of season notes:
Missouri State set a school single-season record with a .978 fielding percentage…Ben Whetstone finished his career as Missouri State's career fielding percentage leader at .993, while ranking fourth in defensive double plays, fifth in putouts, fifth in total chances, and seventh in walks…Logan Wiley made his 41st career start Tuesday to finish fifth in school history, and ranks seventh with 271.2 innings pitched…Jack Duffy concluded his time as a Bear ranked fifth with 225 career games played.