SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State belted six home runs in game two of Friday’s doubleheader split with Murray State and seven on the day at Hammons Field. The Racers won 6-4 in the opener before the Bears matched a season-high with six long balls in the nightcap, winning 16-4 for their fourth run-rule victory in the Missouri Valley Conference season.
Nick Rodriguez had six hits in the two games and extended his reached base streak to 27 games, while the Bears (19-27, 8-12 MVC) collected 25 total hits, including 10 for extra bases. MoState also improved to 89 home runs on the season, tying last year’s total for sixth-best in school history.
The Racers moved to 29-18 and 10-10 in league play.
Missouri State goes for the series win at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Game 1 Recap – Murray State won, 6-4
The Racers never trailed and used a three-run sixth to give them enough cushion to withstand a late Bears rally.
Murray State scored single runs in the first two innings, and the Bears got one back on an error in the second and another on Taeg Gollert’s RBI double in the third.
The visitors capitalized on an error to score on a two-out single in the fourth and got an RBI double and two-run single in the sixth to lead 6-2.
Rodriguez doubled and scored on a Cody Kelly single in the sixth, and Kelly added his ninth homer of the season in the eight for the 6-4 final.
Brandt Thompson (5-2) struck out seven but yielded a season-high six runs in the 5.2 innings, while Murray State starter Cade Vernon (8-2) fanned nine against one walk in seven innings of work.
Game 2 Recap – Missouri State won, 16-4 (7 innings)
The Bears scored 15 runs in their final three at bats for the 16-4 run-rule victory.
Caden Bogenpohl registered his third multi-home run game of the season and moved his season total to 16, three shy of Ryan Howard’s MSU freshman record. Rodriguez went 4-for-4, Gollert and Dylan Leach each drove in four runs, and Bogenpohl scored three times.
Bogenpohl’s first homer put the Bears up 1-0 in the second, Murray State scored in the next two innings to lead 2-1, and it was all Bears after that.
Rodriguez opened the fourth with a single and scored on Leach’s 13th homer of the season, and Bogenpohl followed with a solo shot two batters later to make it 4-2.
Gollert had an RBI single and Leach hit a two-run double in the fourth before the Racers scored two in the sixth to make it 7-4.
Missouri State countered with its highest-scoring inning of the season with a nine-run sixth. Gollert hit a three-run homer – the first of back-to-back shots with Rodriguez – Zack Stewart crushed his league-best 19th round-tripper of the year, Tyler Epstein drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, and Kelly added a two-run single for good measure.
Tyler Charlton (1-4) pitched three innings of relief for his first win as a Bear.
