Kragel Drives in Four, Bears Top Owls in Tourney Opener

Thursday, May 21

Kennesaw, Ga.

7:00 p.m.

Missouri State University

33-18

Kennesaw State

25-28

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Missouri State	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	6	7	0
Kennesaw State	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	4	11	0

Kragel Drives in Four, Bears Top Owls in Tourney Opener

May 21, 2026 | Baseball

Box Score

By: MSU Athletics Communications

KENNESAW, Ga. – Brant Kragel tied a career high with four RBIs while Carter Bergman and Curry Sutherland hit solo home runs to power the Bears past Kennesaw State 6-4 in their Conference USA Baseball Championship opener Thursday at Mickey Dunn Stadium.

Kragel got the scoring started for the third-seeded Bears (33-18) with a two-run homer in the second, the Owls (25-28) pulled even in the fourth, and Max Knight (6-3) began his relief outing with three-plus scoreless innings that allowed Mo State to take the lead.

Bergman's team-leading 16^th blast of the year traveled 423 feet to dead center field for a 3-2 advantage in the seventh, and Sutherland matched him by opening the eighth with his 16^th round-tripper of the season. Kragel added a two-run double later that inning to make it 6-2 Bears.

The Owls finally got to Knight with a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth, bringing Sutherland over from third base for the five-out save.

The junior fanned a pair to close the eighth and struck out two more in the ninth, including the final out with runners on the corners to secure his second save.

The Bears wrap up pool play at 3 p.m. Central on Friday against fourth-seeded Dallas Baptist. Mo State can advance to Saturday's semifinal round in one of two ways, either by defeating DBU or by a Jacksonville State win over Western Kentucky in the preceding game.

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