LYNCHBURG, Va. – Missouri State relievers Ross Felder, Trent Ash and Tyler Charlton allowed just one unearned run in six innings and Carter Bergman hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning Friday at Liberty Baseball Stadium to give the Bears a 4-3 victory over the Flames in the program's first ever Conference USA game.
 
The Flames (12-4, 0-1 CUSA) scored single runs in each of the first two innings and star right-hander Ben Blair kept the Bears (11-6, 1-0) off the scoreboard until Taeg Gollert slugged a solo home run in the sixth to make it 2-1.
 
The Bears then pulled even in the seventh when Logan Fyffe hit a leadoff double and eventually scampered home on Bryce Cermenelli's ground ball to shortstop, using an evasive slide to make it 2-2.
 
Ross Felder kept Mo State in the game with 3.2 innings relieving Michael Yusypchuk and was tagged for an unearned in the seventh thanks to a two-out error and RBI double that put Liberty back on top, 3-2.
 
Missouri State answered again in the eighth, with Gollert hitting a leadoff triple and Bergman launching his seventh home run of the year to end Liberty's 10-game win streak.
 
Trent Ash (1-0) fired a scoreless eighth as part of 1.1 hitless innings, and Tyler Charlton finished the ninth for his second save.
 
Gollert finished 3-for-5 and collected his 95^th and 96^th career extra-base hits, moving up to ninth place on Missouri State's career list. Curry Sutherland extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a first-inning single, and Jax Ryan and Cermenelli notched two hits each.
 
The series continues Saturday at 1 p.m. Central.