Season Statistics

PEORIA, Ill. – Dakota Kotowski's RBI single in the top of the ninth inning proved to be the game-winner in a wild 7-6 Missouri State victory over Bradley Thursday evening at Dozer Park.

Spencer Nivens homered twice, including MSU's third leadoff bomb of the season while becoming the sixth Bear to have a multi-homer game on the year, and added a sac fly in the fifth, Hayden Moore drove in a pair of runs, and Eric Loomis (3-1) posted career highs of four innings and seven strikeouts in relief.

Missouri State (25-24, 8-11 Missouri Valley Conference) scored in six of its nine at bats and the bullpen held Bradley (18-27, 9-10) to one run over the final five frames.

Bradley led 4-2 after three innings with the two Nivens bombs accounting for MSU's offense to that point, and a BU homer in the fourth made it 5-2 before the Bears tallied two in the fifth on a Will Duff leadoff walk, Moore RBI triple and Nivens sac fly.

Moore hit a sac fly in the sixth to briefly tie it at 5-5, but Bradley led off the bottom of the inning with a solo homer to lead 6-5. Moore was in the middle of things again the next inning, drawing a leadoff walk and scoring the tying run after a wild pitch and two fly outs.

Then in the ninth, Mason Greer led off with his 18th double of the season and scored on Kotowski's one-out single to left center. Jake McMahill plunked Bradley's leadoff man in the bottom half before retiring the next three batters for his fourth save.

The series continues Friday at 1 p.m.