SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State and Illinois State combined for 18 runs after the seventh inning stretch Friday at Hammons Field, eventually resulting in a 12-11 win for the Redbirds in the opening game of the Missouri Valley Conference series.
 
The Bears (10-13, 1-3) collected a season-high 18 hits, with Dylan Leach going 4-for-6 and Logan Chambers and Caden Bogenpohl recording three apiece. Bogenpohl reached safely five times, while Tyler Epstein went 2-for-5 with a career-high five RBI.
 
Brandt Thompson gave up two runs on three hits in seven innings, but four MSU relievers combined to give up 10 runs, seven of which were unearned.
 
Thompson cruised through seven frames, giving up two-run homer in the third before facing the minimum in the final four innings and leaving with a 6-2 lead.
 
It was 6-2 Bears after seven following Epstein's two run single, but ISU (12-11, 2-2) tagged the MSU bullpen for six in the eighth, the final five unearned and scoring with two out.
 
Nick Rodriguez had a sacrifice fly and Epstein cleared the bases with a three-run triple in the bottom of the eighth for a 10-8 lead, and the Redbirds loaded the bases in the ninth courtesy of two walks and an error.
 
ISU's Daniel Pacella clocked a three-run double to give the lead back to the 'Birds, and a two-out single made it 12-10.
 
The Bears scored on a two-out error in the ninth for 12-11, and Rodriguez's liner was caught by a leaping ISU left fielder to end the game.
 
Game two of the series is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday.