SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Fueled by a 10-run fifth inning, Missouri State rolled to a 13-3 victory against Bradley in seven innings to secure a Missouri Valley Conference series win with its second-straight decision over the Braves Saturday at Hammons Field.
Jeremy Eierman clubbed his second and third home runs of the series to lead the MSU onslaught, including a back-breaking three-run shot as part of the Bears’ decisive rally in the fifth, while Dylan Coleman (3-1) overcame a two-run first inning by the Braves to work his first complete game as a Bear.
MSU’s first 10-run rally since the 2010 season started innocently, as Logan Geha drew a one-out walk from BU starter Alex Gray. A perfectly-executed hit-and-run on the next pitch snapped a 2-2 tie when Landan Ruff drove a double into the left-field corner to bring Geha all the way around from first.
Back-to-back RBI singles by Justin Paulsen and Jake Burger stretched the lead to 5-2, before Eierman launched a no-doubter into the Bears’ bullpen in left to push the margin to six runs. A Blake Graham single, three consecutive walks and a balk produced two more runs, and Hunter Steinmetz capped the rally with a two-run single up the middle for a 12-2 bulge.
BU rallied for a run of its own in the top of the sixth, using base hits from Brendan Dougherty and J.F. Garon to set up a run-scoring hit by Andy Shadid.
Burger, who hit a two-run walk-off shot to win Friday’s series opener for the Bears, accounted for the final tally with a long blast to left off Mitch Plassmeyer to open the home half of the sixth.
After recording four consecutive hits to start Friday’s series opener, the Braves jumped on Coleman for a pair of first-inning runs on three hits to take an early lead in game two as well. Leadoff man Luke Shadid belted his first career home run on an 0-2 pitch to open the scoring, before a Spencer Gaa double and a Derek Bangert infield single produced a second tally.
The Bears responded with a two-run rally to even the score in the third after Eierman’s first home run of the day started the inning. Aaron Meyer followed with a double off the left-field fence, and Geha’s two-out single to left brought him home with the equalizing run.
Eierman drove in four with his second career multi-homer performance and briefly matched Burger’s MVC-leading home run total, before the Bears junior All-American went deep with his 11th homer of the season in the sixth. The Bears’ power duo has combined to hit five homers and drive in 10 runs over the first two games of the series, snapping a five-game home run drought for MSU.
Both Ruff and Geha turned in key performances in the No. 8 and No. 9 spots in the MSU batting order as well. Geha reached base safely in all three trips to the plate, going 1-for-1 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Ruff accounted for four of the Bears’ 10 runs in the fifth by scoring twice and driving home two more.
Coleman yielded three runs, but just one over his final six innings of work. The sophomore right-hander struck out five and scattered eight hits altogether in just the second complete-game effort by a Bear since the start of the 2016 season.
For Bradley, Bangert and Luke Shadid each recorded two hits and drove in a run. Gray (0-1) suffered the mound setback after allowing four runs on four hits over 4.1 innings before leaving the game with an apparent leg injury in the fifth.
The Bears and Braves are slated to conclude their series Sunday (April 2) with a 1 p.m. contest.
