Season Statistics

VALPARAISO, Ind. – Dakota Kotowski homered three times and the Missouri State Bears hit six as a team on the way to scoring 23 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Valparaiso Saturday at Emory G. Bauer Field, winning by scores of 14-2 and 9-4.

Kotowski moved into a tie for 10th in school history with 37 career homers and now has a Missouri Valley Conference-leading 17 on the season, helping the Bears move to 16-18 overall and 2-6 in league play.

The Bears (16-18, 2-6 MVC) smacked 12 extra-base hits in the two games, with four of those coming from Mason Greer, who went 6-for-9 with seven RBI on the day. Walker Jenkins added two doubles and a homer with five hits and four RBI in the twinbill.

The Bears and Beacons (13-21, 2-6) conclude the series at noon Sunday.

Game 1 Recap (Missouri State won, 14-2)
Adam Link (4-4) allowed a run in six innings and the Bears scored 13 runs in their final four turns at bat in a 14-2 run-rule win.

Grant Wood extended his hitting streak to a career-best 10 games with a solo homer in the first inning, and that score held until Spencer Nivens and Drake Baldwin each knocked two-out RBI singles in the fifth for a 3-0 lead.

Kotowski slugged his 15th homer of the season in the sixth and Valpo got on the board with two doubles in the bottom half to make it 4-1.

The Bears widened the gap to 7-1 on Greer's sixth home run of the year, a three-run shot in the seventh, and then sent 11 men to the plate in a seven-run eighth to get the necessary margin for the run rule.

Jenkins led off with a solo homer and had a two-out RBI single in the frame, with Nivens, Baldwin, Greer and Kotowski adding RBI hits in between, marking the 15th time this season the Bears have scored at least five runs in an inning.

Each of the top six in the MSU order collected multiple hits and five had multiple RBI, led by Greer with four to tie his career high.

Colin Fields (4-2), who entered the game ranked 15th nationally in strikeouts and fourth in Ks/9 innings, took the loss for Valpo.

Game 2 Recap (Missouri State won, 9-4)
The Bears continued their power surge with seven extra-base hits in game two, pulling away from a 4-4 tie in the seventh for the win.

Kotowski homered and Jenkins hit an RBI double in the fourth – extending his hit streak to 13 games - for a 2-0 lead, and Forrest Barnes was perfect one time through the Valpo lineup before the Beacons got him for a pair of homers in the fourth to lead 3-2. Barnes retired the side in order in four of his five innings in the no decision.

Kotowski made it 4-3 with a two-run shot in the sixth for his fourth career multi-homer game, and Valpo loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half and got a sac fly for the 4-4 tie.

Missouri State scored three in the seventh courtesy of a Greer RBI double, Kotowski sac fly and the second RBI double of the game from Jenkins.

Greer then added a two-run double in the eighth for a 9-4 lead, becoming the first Bear since Justin Paulsen in April 2017 with three doubles in a game in the process.

Eric Loomis (1-0) got four outs in the sixth and seventh frames without yielding a run for the win, and Jake McMahill retired all six hitters he faced to close it out.

Nivens and Baldwin each walked to move their reached base streaks to 29 and 22 games, respectively.