
Bears Bash Six Homers, Yusypchuk Throws Complete Game in Big Win at SIU
April 06, 2025 | Baseball
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MoState (15-13, 6-1 MVC) scored multiple runs in five consecutive innings to take the opener of a series between the league co-leaders that began two days late due to weather and concludes Monday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader.
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Yusypchuk (3-1) scattered four hits and struck out four in the complete-game effort and got all the offense he needed on Caden Bogenpohl's two-run homer in the third inning. Yusypchuk is the first Bear since Pierce Johnson in 2012 to throw a complete game in consecutive starts. Johnson went the distance for eight innings against Oral Roberts (March 15) and nine versus Creighton (March 23) that season.
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The Bears didn't stop there, however, adding three more runs the next inning to knock MVC ERA leader Alex Nigut (5-1) after 3.2 frames. MoState strung together three straight two-out singles and scored when Curry Sutherland was hit by a pitch before Bogenpohl drove in two more with a double to match his career high of four RBIs on his 20th birthday.
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Max Knight led off the fifth with a home run and Dylan Robertson later walked and scored on a Tyler Epstein single for a 7-0 lead.
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SIU (21-8, 5-2) used a pair of extra-base hits for its lone in the fifth, and the Bears countered with three more homers in the sixth. Nick Rodriguez led off with his fifth round-tripper of the year to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, then Knight and Carter Bergman went back-to-back later in the inning to make it 10-1 and giving Knight his first career multi-homer game.
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Rodriguez doubled and scored on Jake McCutcheon's homer in the seventh to secure the necessary 10-run margin for the run rule, and Knight followed with a double to give him 10 total bases on the day.
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MoState's six homers were the team's most since May 3 of last season against Murray State, and the Bears have earned the run rule victory in all three MVC openers.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Yusypchuk, Michael (3-1)
L: Alec Nigut (5-1)

Batting:
2B: Bogenpohl, Caden 1 ; Rodriguez, Nick 1 ; Knight, Max 1
HR: Bogenpohl, Caden 1 ; Rodriguez, Nick 1 ; McCutcheon, Jake 1 ; Knight, Max 2 ; Bergman, Carter 1
RBI: Bogenpohl, Caden 4 ; Rodriguez, Nick 1 ; McCutcheon, Jake 2 ; Knight, Max 2 ; Bergman, Carter 1 ; Epstein, Tyler 1 ; Sutherland, Curry 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bogenpohl, Caden 1 ; Rodriguez, Nick 2 ; McCutcheon, Jake 1 ; Knight, Max 2 ; Bergman, Carter 1 ; Robertson, Dylan 2 ; Stewart, Zack 1 ; Epstein, Tyler 1 ; Sutherland, Curry 1
SB: Epstein, Tyler 1
CS: Rodriguez, Nick 1
HBP: Sutherland, Curry 2

Batting:
2B: Mason Schwalbach 2
3B: Jaxon Holder 1
RBI: Jaxon Holder 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mason Schwalbach 1
HBP: Michael Mylott 1























