Missouri State University

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Missouri State’s Grant Gordon and Wichita State’s Charlie Lowell matched each other zero-for-zero for seven innings before the Shockers (21-12, 1-1 Missouri Valley Conference) struck for three runs in the eighth and held off an MSU (18-11, 1-1) rally in the ninth for a 3-1 victory over the Bears Saturday afternoon at Hammons Field.

    Gordon (3-3) carried a shutout into the eighth, pitching a career-high 7.2 innings before the Shockers connected on four consecutive hits with the bases empty and two down in the eighth. Johnny Coy’s bouncer up the middle broke the scoreless tie and ended Gordon’s day, and Dan Kickham surrendered a two-run triple to Don Lambert to give WSU a 3-0 lead.

    Lowell (5-4) took his shutout into the ninth, striking out 13 Bears before yielding walks to Aaron Conway and Kevin Medrano to open the final inning. The Shockers brought Cale Elam in from the bullpen to close and Spiker Helms singled to load the bases with nobody out. Brent Seifert drove in Conway with a sacrifice fly, but Elam retired the next two batters to keep the score at 3-1.

    The Bears were limited to a season-low four hits in the game after recording at least seven in each of the previous 28 contests and getting at least 10 hits in 22 of those.

    The series concludes Sunday, with the start time moved up one hour to 12 p.m. as the threat of thunderstorms increases throughout the afternoon.