Courtesy: MSU Photo Services Christian Overstreet provided two key runs in the eighth
The Missouri State baseball team claimed its third Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship and first since 2003 Friday with a wild 17-12 victory over 26th-ranked Indiana State at Hammons Field.
The Bears (31-19, 16-5) led 13-2 after four innings only to see Indiana State (33-17, 15-6) make it a one-run game with four in the sixth and six in the eighth before salting it away with four in the bottom of the eighth for the final margin. Missouri State earned the top seed in next week’s MVC Tournament regardless of Saturday’s outcome with ISU, and can claim the league title outright with a win.
After ISU catcher Bronco Lafrenz swatted a two-out, two-run homer in the first the Bears got RBI singles from Brayden Drake and Ben Carlson to tie the game before Dallas Hord lined into a triple play to end the rally.
Tyler Ryun began a seven-run second with a single to score Chris Playter, Travis McComack followed with another to plate Trevor Rogers and Kevin Medrano added another RBI single to keep things going. Drake drove in McComack with a sac fly for the second out before Carlson lined a two-run shot over the wall in right that peaked about 20-feet above the field. Hord made it back-to-back and atoned for the triple play by sending reliever Cordell Greene’s first pitch over the center field wall for the final tally in the seven-run inning that put MSU ahead 9-2.
Hord hit a sac fly with the bases loaded in the fourth, Playter dropped in an RBI single and Daniel Torrente followed with a pinch-hit, two-run double for an 11-run lead.
Buddy Baumann was quietly dominant following the homer, retiring 13 of the next 14 Sycamores without allowing a hit until a leadoff single in the sixth. Two batters later, Brady Shoemaker hit a three-run homer to make the score 13-5. The Sycamores tacked on another run with two outs to get within seven.
Baumann (10-1) moved from 11th to eighth on Missouri State’s career strikeout list with 208 after fanning seven in the game, and became the sixth pitcher in school history to win 10 games in a season after going six innings.
Lafrenz led off the eighth with a solo homer, and two walks and a single later the Sycamores had pulled within five. Koby Kraemer then made it a one-run game with a grand slam into the bullpen before Tim Clubb struck out Shoemaker to end the six-run frame.
With the Bears now clinging to a one-run lead, Christian Overstreet pulled an RBI triple into the right field corner with one out in the bottom of the eighth and then scored on a wild pitch for a pair of insurance runs. A throwing error on the Sycamores while trying to turn a double play let Ryun score, and Medrano drove in Curt Courtwright with a ground out as the Bears answered with four to lead 17-12.
Clubb worked around a two-out single in the ninth to nail down the win.
Courtesy: MSU Photo Services
