SPRINGFIELD – Taeg Gollert collected a career-high four hits and the top three in the Missouri State order went 8-for-13 Thursday as the Bears topped visiting Southern Illinois by an 11-4 final at Hammons Field.
 
The Bears moved to 22-31 overall and 10-15 in Missouri Valley Conference play, moving within a game of the Salukis (30-24, 11-14) in the standings with two games remaining.
 
Missouri State opened the game with three consecutive singles, the third off the bat of Nick Rodriguez to drive in Cody Kelly as Rodriguez extended his reached base streak to 34 games.
 
SIU pulled even in the second, then Logan Chambers led off the bottom of the second with his third homer in as many games.
 
The Salukis used a walk and three singles to lead 3-2 in the fifth before the Bears took the lead for good with a four-run bottom half. Gollert and Rodriguez singled, Caden Bogenpohl drove both in with a double, and Dylan Leach followed with a two-run homer, his 16^th and the Bears 104^th of the year, moving up to third place on the school's single-season list.
 
The Bears then piled on five more in the eighth courtesy of a Curry Sutherland RBI double, wild pitch and Gollert three-run homer. Gollert's 10^th round-tripper of the season gave the Bears six players in double figures, joining the 1999 club as the only teams in program history to do that.
 
Game two of the series is set for 11 a.m. Friday. Saturday's 11 a.m. finale is both Senior Day and Keith Guttin Day, with pregame festivities beginning at approximately 10:25 a.m.