EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Missouri State swatted four home runs Saturday at Evansville but came up just short in an 8-7 loss to the Purple Aces on a windy day at Braun Stadium.
 
The Bears (17-24, 6-11 Missouri Valley Conference) struck early with a four-run second, scoring on a three-run homer by Cody Kelly and a solo shot from Curry Sutherland for a 4-0 lead.
 
Evansville (24-18, 12-5) tied it with three round-trippers in the bottom of the third and opened the fourth with three hits and an error on the way to scoring three times for a 7-4 advantage.
 
The Aces tacked on another run without a hit in the fifth to make it 8-4, and MSU pitchers Hunter Day and Garrett Ferguson combined for 3.1 shutout innings after that to keep the Bears within striking distance.
 
Once UE starter Donovan Schultz (3-1) left the game, the Bears rallied for three runs off the bullpen in the eighth. Zack Stewart led off with his MVC-best 17^th home run of the season, and Dylan Leach added a two-run shot to close the gap to 8-7. Evansville's Jakob Meyer then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.
 
Taeg Gollert doubled twice for the Bears' only two-hit game, while Nick Rodriguez reached safely three times to extend his on-base streak to 22 games.
 
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday.