SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State rode 6 2/3 shutout innings from Austin Knight and a trio of home runs to notch its seventh-straight victory with a 5-1 win over Missouri Tuesday evening before a crowd of 5,351 at Hammons Field.
Knight limited the Tigers to three hits while striking out five hitters, before Jake Fromson and Bryan Young closed the door with 2 1/3 innings of one-hit relief to help the Bears (28-13) claim their seventh season series sweep of MU since 1989.
Solo home runs from Justin Paulsen and Hunter Steinmetz to lead off consecutive innings staked the Bears to a two-run lead that Knight and a pair of relievers would make stand. Paulsen tucked an Andy Toelken (2-3) offering just inside the left-field foul pole to put MSU on the board in the fourth, and Steinmetz followed suit with a no-doubter over the right-center field wall to open the fifth inning.
Knight (3-1) was in control throughout an efficient 68-pitch outing, facing just one batter over the minimum through six innings. The junior right-hander would need just 55 pitches to complete the first six frames, retiring 15 Tigers in a row before plunking Trey Harris with one out in the seventh.
Brett Bond followed with a the lone MU extra-base hit of the game—a double just beyond the reach of a diving Steinmetz in center—to put runners at second and third with just one out. After striking out Brian Sharp for the second out and working a 2-2 count to Robbie Glendinning, MSU summoned Fromson from the bullpen. The junior reliever would need just one pitch to get Glendinning swinging for the final out, preserving what was then a 2-0 MSU lead.
The Bears tacked on three key insurance runs on Landan Ruff’s first career homer with two out in the eighth. Subbing for Aaron Meyer, who had to be assisted off the field due to an apparent knee injury in the first inning, John Privitera came through with a leadoff single to open the eighth, before being gunned down at third on Paulsen’s base hit to left. Drew Millas kept the hit parade going with a single of his own, before Ruff drove a 1-1 pitch from T.J. Sikkema into the Bears’ bullpen in left to stretch the margin to five runs.
MU would scratch out an unearned run in the ninth, but Young finished off the Tigers to hand MSU its 15th home victory in 20 dates this season. The Bears’ largest crowd of the year marked the ninth-largest in MSU’s 14 years at Hammons Field and their biggest since its NCAA Regional final against Iowa on May 31, 2015.
Paulsen powered the MSU offense, finishing 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk, while Steinmetz added a pair of hits.
Bond led the Tigers (27-15) with a 2-for-4 night, while Toelken suffered his second setback against the Bears in as many starts this season. The right-hander yielded just two runs on five hits over 5.0 innings, striking out four and walking three.
Up next, the Bears will travel to Evansville to kick off a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series at Braun Stadium Friday (April 28) at 6 p.m.
