The Missouri State baseball team put up a seven-spot in the bottom of the first inning Sunday and went on to an 8-4 Missouri Valley Conference victory over Illinois State at Hammons Field.

The Redbirds took a 1-0 lead in the first but it did not last long, as Kevin Tokarski mishandled Ben Woodbury’s grounder at shortstop to open the bottom of the first. ISU starter Ben Hays then issued a four-pitch walk to Nolan Keane, both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and Brayden Drake brought Woodbury home with a line drive to center that Quinn Ewert dropped.

Ben Carlson walked to load the bases, still with nobody out, and Chris Playter cleared them with his second triple of the season for a 4-1 lead despite just one hit for the Bears. Ryan Mantle drove in Playter with a ground ball to third before Kyle Paul, Matt Welch and Josh Mazzola hit consecutive singles to score a sixth run. Woodbury followed with a grounder to shortstop that Tokarski fielded and stepped on second before tossing the relay into the dirt at first, allowing Welch to score, the final tally of a seven-run first where the Bears sent 11 men to bat.

ISU’s Mike Stalowy drove in two runs with a two-out double in the second and Tokarski added an RBI single to get the score to 7-4 in favor of the Bears.

The Redbirds sent reliever Kyle Nelson to the mound in the second, but he fared no better than Hays in the beginning, surrendering a leadoff homer to Drake. Nelson retired the next three batters to end the second trailing 8-4, and tossed five more scoreless innings after that.

MSU reliever Cody Aycock retired the first eight batters he faced and allowed just one baserunner in three innings entering the ninth. The freshman gave up a double and a single to begin the ninth, got a double play and then allowed another double, bringing in closer Matt Frevert with runners on second and third and two outs. Frevert coaxed a fly ball from Kevin Dubler to end it, earning his sixth save of the season and 13th of his career to move into a tie with Bob Zimmermann for second all-time at MSU.

Freshman Tyler Ryun (3-0) went five innings in the start, working a scoreless third, fourth and fifth after allowing the four early runs. He struck out three Redbirds.

Six of MSU’s nine starters recorded a hit, with the three hitless Bears having entered the game with team’s three longest hitting streaks. Carlson’s streak ended at 15 games, Woodbury’s at 10 and Mantle’s at eight straight.

Missouri State upped its record to 30-13 overall and 13-5 in the league while matching a season-high with its sixth consecutive win. Illinois State dropped to 18-22 and 3-12 in conference play.

The Bears will play eight of their final 11 regular season games on the road, beginning with a 6:35 p.m. game at Arkansas on Wednesday.