SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State’s school-record 17-game home winning streak came to an end Sunday afternoon as visiting Western Kentucky salvaged the Conference USA series finale with a 10-5 victory.
WKU’s Hayden Robbins hit a two-out, two-strike grand slam in the sixth inning to put the Hilltoppers (20-20, 7-11) up for good, while the Bears dropped to 26-11 overall and 14-4 in league play.
The game was scoreless until the fourth inning, when WKU hit a two-out, two-run triple in the top half and Curry Sutherland smacked a two-run homer in the bottom half before Taeg Gollert added an RBI fielder’s choice.
The Toppers scored another two-out run in the fifth to pull even, then Caden Bogenpohl opened the Mo State fifth with a single and scored on Brant Kragel’s ground out before Sutherland connected on his second round-tripper of the game and 12th of the year for a 5-3 advantage.
Western Kentucky loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth and plated five, including the Robbins grand slam, and turned a leadoff walk into a run in the eighth for a 9-5 advantage. The Tops then tacked on one more in the ninth.
Bryce Cermenelli became the 11th player in program history with a 20-game hitting streak thanks to a third-inning single and went 2-for-5 on the day. Sutherland notched his first career multi-homer game.
Jason Schaaf (2-2) went five innings in the start and took the loss, while WKU reliever Nathan Lawson allowed two hits and struck out six over the final four innings.
The Bears begin a five-game road trip on Tuesday with a 6 p.m. game at No. 16 Arkansas. Mo State won the season’s first meeting 15-14 on March 31 in Springfield.
