Season Statistics | Highlights

SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State's Adam Link fired eight shutout innings Friday and MSU pitching faced just one batter over the minimum in a 7-0 series-opening victory against Nevada at Hammons Field.

Link, a graduate transfer and Springfield native, did not allow a hit until the fifth inning and yielded three singles and a walk on the day to move to 3-2 on the year, while Eric Loomis tossed a scoreless ninth to complete MSU's first nine-inning shutout since the 2020 season opener.

The Bears (11-8) faced just 28 hitters to get 27 outs against a Nevada (10-9) club that entered the game hitting .303 as a team.

Missouri State had several scoring opportunities in the early innings but the game remained scoreless until the sixth when Mason Hull whacked a leadoff double and scored on a sacrifice fly from Spencer Nivens for a 1-0 lead.

The Bears broke it open with five in the seventh, loading the bases with no out thanks to Dakota Kotowski reaching after strike three got past the Nevada catcher to the backstop, followed by singles from Cam Cratic and Mason Greer.

Hull drove in the first run with a sac fly, Cratic scored from third on a wild pickoff throw, Nivens singled for his second RBI of the day, and Drake Baldwin capped it with a two-run single for a 6-0 advantage.

Greer doubled in the eighth and scored on a wild pitch for the final tally, going 3-for-5 on the day with a pair of runs. Baldwin also had three hits while Hull and Cratic got two each. Grant Wood walked twice to extend his streak of reaching safely to 19 games.

Game two of the series is set for 2 p.m. Saturday.