SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State ran its Missouri Valley Conference win streak to 12 games Sunday afternoon with a 9-6 victory over visiting Valparaiso at Hammons Field to complete the Bears’ fourth consecutive weekend series sweep.
Jake Eddington (4-0) struck out six and allowed two hits in six innings, while Nick Rodriguez, Spencer Nivens and Zack Stewart each drove in two runs for the Bears. Garrett Ferguson got the final out of the game for his fourth save after Valpo fought back from a 9-2 deficit to send the go-ahead run to the plate.
The Beacons (16-19, 7-11 MVC) scored on a two-out walk and a double in the first, and the Bears answered back with a five-run second, including four with two out.
Cody Kelly led off the big inning with a double and scored on a Cam Cratic single, and Izzy Lopez doubled with two out as part of his 2-for-4 game to set up a two-run single by Rodriguez and a two-run home run by Nivens, a 450-foot blast for his 12th of the season and a 5-1 lead.
Missouri State had another two-out rally in the fourth, with a Nivens single and Mason Hull walk, plus steals by both players, setting up Stewart’s two-run single for his 49th and 50th runs batted in of the season.
Stewart joins Ryan Howard (66 in 1999), Jason Hart (52 in 1996) and Matt Brewer (52 in 1989) as the only true freshmen in school history with at least 50 RBI.
Taeg Gollert drove in Hull with a two-out single in the sixth for an 8-1 lead, and Hull reached safely four times with two stolen bases and two runs in the contest.
The teams exchanged solo homers in the seventh, with Carter Bergman’s third of the season making it a 9-2 game, and Valpo strung together four hits in the eighth for a 9-4 score.
Then in the ninth, the Beacons pushed a run across and had the bases loaded down 9-5 when Ferguson entered, walked one runner home and struck out the next to secure the victory.
The Bears stole a season-high five bases in their seventh consecutive win overall.
Missouri State plays Omaha on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in a neutral site game held at Urban Youth Academy in Kansas City, Mo.
