Season Statistics

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Walker Jenkins drew a bases-loaded for the go-ahead run in a three-run ninth inning for Missouri State Friday afternoon in a 7-6 victory for the Bears over first-place Indiana State at Bob Warn Field.

Missouri State (20-18, 4-6 Missouri Valley Conference) tallied 15 hits, including six for extra bases, in its sixth straight win, the team's longest streak since May 2018. Spencer Nivens, Drake Baldwin and Mason Greer each had three-hit days for the offense.

It was Nivens and Baldwin who got things started in the ninth, opening with a single and double to put two in scoring position with no out and a 6-4 deficit. Nivens came home on a wild pitch, and after two walks and a strikeout the bases were loaded with one out. Mason Hull drove in the tying run with a single before Jenkins fought out of an 0-2 hole to draw the walk and force home Greer as the go-ahead run.

The Bears led 2-0 after three batters thanks to singles from Nivens and Baldwin and a Greer two-run double, but the Sycamores (21-12, 6-4), who entered the game ranked 12th nationally with a .312 batting average, collected 10 hits over the first four innings for a 6-2 lead.

Missouri State's bullpen shut the door after that with just three hits allowed over five scoreless innings – two from Riyan Rodriguez, two from Trey Ziegenbein (5-4) and the ninth from Jake McMahill for his first save. The Bears' pitching staff did not walk a batter in the game.

Baldwin smacked a solo home to left in the fifth inning, his seventh of the year, and Cam Cratic drove in a run with a pinch-hit ground out to make it 6-4 in the eighth.

The Bears got 11 hits and four runs off ISU starter Matt Jachec, the MVC leader in wins and ERA.

Game two of the series is set for 12 p.m. Central on Saturday.