Big Innings Give Baseball Bears 11-4 Win at Southern Illinois
(MSU Athletics) -- Missouri State scored five runs in the second inning and six in the fourth to build an 11-2 lead on the way to an 11-4 Missouri Valley Conference victory at Southern Illinois Saturday afternoon at Abe Martin Field in Carbondale, Ill.
Missouri State (20-12, 3-1 MVC) used four hits, three SIU errors and a walk to take a 5-0 lead after the top of the second. Derek Mattea drove in the game’s first run with an RBI single, scoring Brock Chaffin after a leadoff walk, with an error on the play letting Travis McComack home as well. Aaron Conway added an RBI double and Kevin Medrano hit a two-out, two-run single for MSU’s fourth and fifth runs.
The Salukis (12-21, 3-1) got two runs back on Jake Welch’s two-out double in the second, but the Bears responded by batting around again in the fourth on the way to six runs.
The Bears loaded the bases with one out in the fourth and first scored on Tyler Paxson’s sacrifice fly before plating five runs with two outs. McComack’s third hit of the game went for a two-run double, Mattea followed with an RBI single, Conway added an RBI infield single and Spiker Helms smacked a run-scoring double before SIU recorded the third out.
Freshman Nick Petree (5-0) gave the Bears seven innings for the win, allowing six hits against two runs, a walk and seven strikeouts. SIU got two runs off Seth Swafford in the eighth before Jake Powers came in and got the Bears’ third double-play ball of the game to end the frame and then tossed a scoreless ninth.
The teams will conclude the series with a noon doubleheader on Sunday.
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