SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Missouri State blasted nine extra-base hits and scored 15 unanswered runs after spotting Cal Poly two in the first inning on the way to a 15-4 victory Saturday to even the series with the Mustangs at Baggett Stadium.
Missouri State (1-1) hit eight doubles, two shy of the school record and the most since at least 2010, with three coming from freshman
Taeg Gollert, tying a school record that has happened 23 times previously.
Gollert finished 3-for-5 with three RBI, fellow freshman
Zack Stewart doubled twice and drove in four runs, and
Mason Greer doubled from both sides of the plate for the second time in his career while driving in a pair.
Cal Poly (1-1) got the scoring started with a two-out, two-run homer in the first, and the Bears immediately responded with two in the top of the second with an RBI ground out from
Dylan Robertson and an RBI double from Gollert.
MSU starter
Brandt Thompson settled in after that and did not allow a hit through the next four innings to earn the win, fanning four and leaving with a 9-2 lead after the Bears erupted for a seven-spot in the fifth.
Gollert got the fifth-inning rally started with a double and scored the go-ahead run on an RBI single from
Spencer Nivens, Greer hit a two-run double and scored on a wild pitch, Stewart hit an RBI double and Gollert finished it off with his second two-bagger of the frame to bring home the final two runs.
Cody Kelly led off the seventh with a solo homer and
Nick Rodriguez added a two-out RBI single for an 11-2 lead as part of his 3-for-5 day.
The Bears piled on four more in the eighth as Kelly hit an RBI single and Stewart added a three-run double to make it 15-2.
Cal Poly added two in the ninth for the final score.
Forrest Barnes struck out five in two relief innings, and
Tyler Tscherter fanned three in the final two innings as the Bears yielded just two hits after the opening frame and struck out 12 Mustangs in the contest.
The rubber match is scheduled for 3 p.m. Central Sunday.
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