NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Missouri State rode a familiar formula of a late offensive rally and shutdown relief from its bullpen to pull out a 7-5 road victory over Belmont Friday evening at E.S. Rose Park. The Bears scored five times in the seventh and eighth innings to erase a three-run deficit, and the duo of Jake Fromson and Bryan Young provided 4 2/3 innings of two-hit, shutout relief on the opening day of play at the Mule Mix Classic.
The Bears (4-1) received a crucial lift from both their freshman class and their bench in the comeback, as Jack Duffy went 2-for-5 with a key run-scoring single in the eighth, in addition to turning in a diving grab of a defensive gem in left field early in the contest. Fellow rookie Drew Millas delivered the game-tying RBI single as part of the Bears’ four-run, eighth-inning rally that saw MSU bat around and take the lead for good on Hunter Steinmetz’s squeeze bunt that scored Duffy from third.
Logan Geha, yet another MSU freshman, spurred a two-run rally in the second when the catcher recorded his first hit as a Bear with a leadoff double before coming around on Jake Burger’s run-scoring single to left. Another MSU newcomer, Ryan Skalnik, came through with a clutch hit off the bench for the second-straight game, lacing an RBI single to right that brought in Millas to cap the Bears’ big inning.
Combined with hits by Alex Jefferson and Millas off the bench, MSU pinch-hitters were a perfect 3-for-3 in the late innings to help propel the comeback.
Fromson (1-0) picked up his first mound victory of the season with 3 2/3 innings in relief of starter Doug Still, allowing just two hits while striking out three Bruins. Young notched his school-record 28th save as a Bear by fanning the side in order in the ninth to secure MSU’s second-consecutive come-from-behind win — the Bears’ 43rd overall since the beginning of the 2015 season.
The Bears, who also rallied from a 5-3 deficit in Tuesday’s win at ORU, faced a three-run deficit after the Bruins (1-4) erupted for three runs in the fifth to gain the upper hand. Nick Egli’s first hit of the 2017 season was the sparkplug for the outburst, as the senior belted a Still offering into the left-field bullpen to lead off the inning and snap a 2-2 deadlock. After a Kyle Conger single and a walk to Chas Hadden chased Still from the contest, Brennan Washington made it a 5-2 game with a two-run double off the top of the left-center field fence.
From there Fromson, froze the BU bats, retiring nine straight hitters before a two-out single by Clay Payne in the eighth broke the string. The right-hander stretched his personal streak to 8.2 consecutive innings, over which he has yielded just three hits.
The Bears’ mounted a seventh-inning threat against the Belmont bullpen, getting back-to-back pinch-hit singles by Jefferson and Millas to set the stage, before Steinmetz coaxed ball four from Kyle Klotz to load the bases with nobody out. But MSU would cash in for just one run, as Blake Graham’s bouncer to second resulted in a twin-killing, and Jeremy Eierman’s fly ball was hauled in by Tyler Walsh just in front of the center field wall for the final out of the inning.
But MSU finally broke through in the eighth, as Paulsen singled to lead off the inning, and Aaron Meyer lined a double to right-center for his third hit of the night. Duffy then drove a solid single to left, before Millas’s sharp single to center drove in Meyer with the equalizing run. Next, Steinmetz bunted back to the mound, and the speedy Duffy scored ahead of the throw to the plate. Skalnik, who drove in three runs with a two-strike, pinch-hit double at ORU Tuesday, put the finishing touches on the rally with a base hit to right on a 1-2 pitch from Ben Lovell for a 7-5 MSU cushion.
Belmont starting pitcher Tyler Vaughn appeared to be in line for the victory after limiting the Bears to two runs on six hits while fanning nine batters and walking three in his 6.0 innings.
BU seized the early advantage thanks to a pair of two-out hits in the home half of the second. Walsh’s double to left chased Payne home all the way from first with the game’s first tally. Next Drake Byrd’s fly ball to deep center, but the sophomore could not reel it in, and Walsh easily scored to make it 2-0.
MSU evened the score in the third behind Geha’s double, Burger’s one-out single and a run-scoring double by Eierman. Both starters used the strikeout to keep the game tied, as Still and Vaughn combined to fan 14 hitters in the game’s first six innings.
Meyer continued his hot hitting, finishing 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored, while Millas logged his first two-hit game as a Bear, going 2-for-2 off the bench.
Missouri State continues its stay in Nashville Saturday (Feb. 25) with a 2 p.m. game against Lipscomb at Dungan Field, before plays shits to Murfreesboro on Sunday, when the Bears will face Middle Tennessee at Noon.
