SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State scored 25 runs Sunday afternoon at Hammons Field to complete the weekend sweep of Valparaiso and stay alone in first place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.
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The Bears improved to 19-15 overall and 10-2 in MVC play with their 12
th win in the last 15 games by a final of 25-7. Valpo moved to 8-22 and 3-9 in Valley games.
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Game notes and superlatives
- MSU's 25 runs are the most since scoring that many against Southwest Baptist on April 4, 2000. It ties the Bears' fourth-most ever against a fellow Division I opponent and most versus a D1 team since scoring 27 against Indiana State on April 10, 1999.
- The Bears' run total is a Hammons Field record.
- Zack Stewart tied a school single game record by walking five times. Stewart now shares the record with Lance Burkhart (2/14/97 vs. Nevada), Steve Hacker (4/23/95 vs. UNI) and Cory Krueger (3/15/91 vs. Austin Peay). He scored a career high five runs and added an RBI double to become the first Bear to reach safely six times in a game since Ben Whetstone at Oral Roberts on Feb. 24, 2021.
- With a double in the first inning, Nick Rodriguez extended his hitting streak to 21 games, tying Drake Baldwin (2021) and Evan Pratte (1990) for the sixth-longest streak in school history. Rodriguez now has at least one extra base hit in 13 consecutive games.
- Caden Bogenpohl led off the game with a walk to extend his reached base streak to 47 games. He added a grand slam in the fourth inning and finished with career highs for RBIs (5) and runs scored (4).
- The Bears had a season-high 19 hits and drew a season-best 14 walks.
- Missouri State has earned at least one run-rule victory in nine of its last 11 MVC series.
- Jake McCutcheon equaled his career high with four hits.
- Brant Kragel collected his first career hit with a single in the fifth.
- Curry Sutherland, Tyler Epstein and Logan Dunn each drove in three runs.
- MSU's nine-run fifth inning was the team's highest-scoring frame since May 3 of last season.
- Ten Bears recorded a hit, 11 scored a run and nine had an RBI.
 Missouri State took a 4-0 in the first inning and Valpo countered with three home runs to lead 5-4 in the third.
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The Bears scored 20 unanswered after that, with six in third, five in the fourth and nine in the fifth for a 24-5 lead. The teams exchanged single runs in the next three half innings for the final score.
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The Bears visit Missouri (12-23) Tuesday at 6 p.m. for the first game of this season's home-and-home series. The Tigers return to Hammons Field on April 22. Tickets to home baseball games can be purchased
here, and MSU students are admitted free with a valid Bearpass ID.
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