Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader at UCA With Late Heroics

Sunday, March 10

Conway, Ark.

12 p.m.

Missouri State University

8-5

Central Arkansas

7-9

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Missouri State	1	0	2	0	0	1	2	0	2	8	14	1
Central Arkansas	0	1	0	0	3	0	2	0	0	6	9	0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Missouri State	3	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	7	13	1
Central Arkansas	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	0	0	6	7	2

Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader at UCA With Late Heroics

March 10, 2024 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: MSU Athletics Communications

CONWAY, Ark. – Missouri State scored the game-winning run in its final at bat of both games Sunday at Central Arkansas, winning by scores of 8-6 and 7-6 (10 innings) to sweep the series at Bear Stadium and move its winning streak to four games.

In game one, it was Jahlani Rogers with a two-run single in the ninth for the win, while Taeg Gollert hit a sacrifice fly to second base the brought home Carter Bergman in the top of the 10^th inning in the nightcap.

Missouri State (9-5) stays on the road for a 3 p.m. game at Saint Louis on Tuesday.

Game 1 Recap – Missouri State won, 8-6
Rogers hit the game-winning two-run single in the top of the ninth inning to give Missouri State the 8-6 victory in a back-and-forth game. MSU piled up a season-high 14 hits, led by Dylan Leach with a 3-for-4 game and two-hit efforts from Nick Rodriguez, Caden Bogenpohl, Logan Chambers and Rogers.

Zack Stewart put MSU on top with a solo home run in the first, his seventh of the season, UCA tied it in the second, and Rodriguez hit a solo homer in the third before a Gollert RBI single made it 3-1.

UCA loaded the bases with one out in the fifth and scored three runs on a ground out and two wild pitches to lead 4-3, and Leach answered with a solo homer the next inning to tie it again.

Chambers and Leach had RBI hits in the seventh to make it 6-4, but UCA got both runs back in the bottom half for yet another tie.

Central Arkansas threatened again in the eighth with a runner on third, and MSU shortstop Tyler Epstein made a diving stop and throw to first to record the final out and strand the runner.

Chambers and Leach singled with one out in the ninth and Jake McCutcheon was hit by a pitch to load the bases, giving Rogers the chance to ground a ball through the left side for the game-winning two-run single.

Jason Schaaf made his first career start and allowed two runs in four innings, and Hunter Day (1-1) got the final seven outs for the Bears for the winning decision.

Game 2 Recap – Missouri State won, 7-6 (10 innings)
Tyler Charlton took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and Gollert drove in Bergman with a sacrifice fly to second base in the 10^th for the 7-6 win. Gollert's pop fly was caught by the UCA (7-10) second baseman with his back to home plate and momentum carrying him away, and Bergman made a great slide to avoid the catcher and touch home for the winning run.

The first six innings flew by, as Charlton had the longest outing of any MSU pitcher of the season and did not allow a hit until a leadoff single in the seventh. The was part of a four-hit inning for the home team that results in two runs, though Missouri State still emerged with a 6-2 lead, with Charlton tossing 6.2 innings in the start.

UCA added a three-run homer and scored the tying run on a passed ball in the eighth for the 6-6 tie, but MSU freshman Kaleb Thomas (3-1) struck out four and allowed one hit in the final 2.1 innings to lock down the win.

Rodriguez opened the game with a leadoff single to push his hitting streak to 14 games and reached safely four times. MSU strung together three consecutive two-out hits in the opening frame, with a Chambers RBI single and two-run double by McCutcheon making it 3-0.

McCutcheon hit a leadoff single and scored on a Bergman sac fly in the fourth to make it 4-0, and two walks set up RBI singles by Gollert and Chambers in the sixth for a 6-0 advantage before UCA charged back. McCutcheon and Chambers had three hits apiece.

#BearsUnite