SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State won for the seventh time in eight games and topped a Power Four conference team for the second consecutive Tuesday with a 10-8 victory at Hammons Field.
 
The Bears (14-13) scored in double figures for the sixth time in eight contests thanks to production up and down the lineup, with eight starters recording a hit and eight scoring a run.
 
Max Knight's two-run double in the bottom of the first erased OSU's (12-14) early 2-0 lead before the Cowboys went back up 4-2 thanks to a pair in the third.
 
In the bottom of the third, Jake McCutcheon led off with a double and scored on Taeg Gollert's single, and Knight singled and later stole home for a 4-4 tie.
 
William Zareh led off the fourth with a solo homer and Nick Rodriguez doubled and scored on an error for a 6-4 advantage, and the Bears broke it open with a four-run fifth.
 
The scoring in the fifth came on Caden Bogenpohl's bases-loaded walk, a wild pitch, a Rodriguez fielder's choice and McCutcheon RBI single for the 10-4 margin.
 
Owen Slater (1-1) pitched 3.2 innings of relief with a career-high five strikeouts in his first victory, the only blip being a two-run homer by OSU in the sixth that cut the lead to 10-6.
 
Curry Sutherland threw a scoreless seventh, and Jackson Holmes pitched the final two innings, working out of a jam in the ninth after OSU plated two runs before the first out.
 
Gollert (15) and Rodriguez (14) extended their respective hitting streaks, and Bogenpohl reached for the 40^th consecutive game. Dylan Robertson tied his career high with three hits.
 
The pitching staff equaled a season best with 15 strikeouts.
 
The Bears are on the road this weekend at Southern Illinois in a battle of the two teams tied atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings. Game one is currently scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday, April 4.