SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State softball improved to 5-11 on the season with a 9-8 home-opening victory against Wichita State (11-7) here Wednesday evening.
 
Alex Boze had a career night, blasting three home runs and recording five RBI. Her three home runs in a single game marked the first three-run homer game by a Bear on record, tied the Missouri Valley Conference record and broke the Killian Stadium record. Boze's five RBI were the most by a Bear since 2016.
 
In the circle, Steffany Dickerson drew the start and recorded her fourth win of the season. The fifth-year senior gave up six earned runs while striking out six Shockers in 6.2 innings pitched.
 
Wichita State jumped out to an early lead, scoring five runs in the first two innings, via a bases-clearing double in the first and a two-run home run in the second inning.
 
However, the Bears responded with a single run in each of the first two innings, with Daphne Plummer scoring on a ground out in the first and driving in a run with a single up the middle in the home half of the second. After two innings, the Bears trailed 5-2.
 
After a 1-2-3 Shocker inning in the third, Boze launched her first homer of the night, a two-run shot, following a leadoff Madison Hunsaker walk to begin the inning. At the end of the third frame, the Bears were right back in the ballgame, trailing 5-4.
 
A strong offensive team that came into the afternoon with 126 runs and 161 hits as a team, Wichita State put a run on the board in both the fourth and fifth innings to extend their lead to 7-4. A leadoff walk followed by a double in the fourth allowed the Shockers to score on an infield single, before tacking on their seventh run of the night with a solo homer to right field in the fifth.
 
Once again, there was no quit in the Bears. In the home half of the fifth, with one out on the board, Boze drilled her second long ball of the night over the center field fence to cut the MSU deficit to 7-5. Immediately following Boze, freshman McKenzie Vaughan, who homered twice last weekend, went yard to pull the Bears within a run, trailing 7-6 after the fifth.  
 
The Shockers threw the next punch in the battle at Killian Stadium, scoring an unearned run in the top of the sixth to extend their lead to two runs.
 
It would be the Bears that would throw the knockout punch, though, producing a three-run sixth inning to take a 9-8 lead over Wichita State. Following a leadoff single and a fielder's choice, the Bears had a runner on second with two outs, trailing 8-6.
 
The fifth-year senior Hunsaker delivered the first run of the comeback effort, knocking a single into left field to score Plummer and make it an 8-7 ballgame. Then, Boze hit her career-best third home run on the evening to give the Bears a 9-8 advantage and ultimately the victory in their first home game of 2022.
 
In the top of the seventh, the Shockers managed a single and worked a walk, but Dickerson shut the door to pick up her fourth win of the season and the Bears' fifth victory on the year.
 
Overall, Boze was 3-for-3 on the night with five RBI, three runs scored and a walk to raise her season batting average to .500. Meanwhile, Plummer went 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored and a RBI, while Vaughan was 1-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
 
Missouri State will be back in action on Sunday, March 13 as they take on SEMO and Iowa at the Jayhawk Invitational in Lawrence, Kansas. First pitch against SEMO is set for 10 a.m.