EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Missouri State softball (15-29, 11-12 MVC) evened the series on the road at Evansville (15-31, 10-13 MVC) with a 4-3 win here Saturday afternoon. 
 
This afternoon's meeting between the Bears and Aces provided another wild ending. Evansville put some pressure on early, loading the bases in the first with two outs, but Shelby Houchlei and the Bears defense worked out of the jam. 
 
With a scoreless game through two innings, the Bears jumped on the board first with a three-run third inning. Olivia Krehbiel got things rolling with a leadoff ground-rule double before Chloe Merced drove her in with a triple off the wall in right center field. Kayla Ulrich then delivered a sacrifice fly to center field to score MSU's second run of the inning. Then, the hot-hitting Annie Mueller came up to bat and delivered her 16^th home run of the season and her sixth long ball in the last five games. 
 
Missouri State added to its lead in the top of the fourth with three consecutive two-out singles courtesy of Ellie McCoy, Krehbiel and Merced to make it a 4-0 game in favor of the Bears.
 
Evansville answered with a run in the fourth to get on the scoreboard for the first time with an RBI single through the left side. Missouri State left three runners on base across the sixth and seventh innings but carried a 4-1 advantage into the bottom of the seventh. 
 
The Aces made things interesting once again as the Bears were just three outs away from a win. Four singles in the first five batters cut Missouri State's lead to just one run as Gracie Johnston came on in relief. Following a foul out to give the Bears two outs on the board, an Evansville single loaded the bases. The Aces then put a ball in play that could have caused some trouble for the Bears, but the Evansville runner ran straight into shortstop Kenzie Derryberry and was called out for runner's interference to end the ballgame. 
 
Merced led the way for the Bears offensively with a 2-for-4 showing at the plate with two RBI and a run scored. Krehbiel and Mueller also contributed two hits on the day for the Bears with Mueller collecting her 46^th RBI of the season and Krehbiel knocking her 44^thcareer double. 
 
In the circle, Makenzi Swick earned the win in relief, tossing 2.1 hitless innings. After coming on in a one-run game in the seventh, Johnston earned her seventh save of the season to tie the Missouri State single-season record in the category.