SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State's offense stayed hot and Michael Yusypchuk threw a complete game on the mound Friday evening at Hammons Field as the Bears beat Belmont 16-3 in seven innings for their fifth straight win and a 4-0 start to Missouri Valley Conference play.
 
Following Tuesday's 14-13 win at No. 2 Arkansas, the Bears make it consecutive games with at least 14 runs for the first time since April 5-6, 2019, and have scored 70 in their last five outings, the most in a five-game stretch since 1999 (90 runs from April 20-May 7). The MSU offense has scored in 20 of its last 26 innings.
 
Nick Rodriguez (11) and Taeg Gollert (12) extended their respective hitting streaks, while Caden Bogenpohl reached safely for the 37^th straight game. Rodriguez reached in each of the first four innings to complete a stretch of 7-for-7 with two walks in nine plate appearances over the last two games before being retired his final at bat Friday.
 
Yusypchuk (2-1), meanwhile, struck out four and allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk while becoming the first MSU freshman to throw a complete game since Forrest Barnes at SEMO on April 2, 2019.
 
MoState scored five in the first with Bogenpohl scoring on a wild pitch, Max Knight hitting an RBI single and Zack Stewart launching a three-run homer, tying Ben Carlson for 10^th on the school's career list with his 38^th career long ball.
 
Rodriguez and McCutcheon connected on back-to-back two-run doubles for a 9-1 lead in the third, and Missouri State put up six more in the fourth.
 
Tyler Epstein scored the first of those runs when he stole second and took the next two bases on a throwing error, Gollert followed with a two-run single, and Knight swatted a three-run homer for his sixth of the year.
 
Stewart's third hit of the game was a leadoff single in the fifth before he scored on a wild pitch, and Belmont got a two-run, two-out double in the seventh for the 16-3 final.
 
Game two of the series is set for 2 p.m. Saturday.