Missouri State University

After going scoreless through the first three innings Saturday, the Missouri State baseball team put up crooked numbers in each of the next four frames and withstood a late Creighton charge on the way to a 10-7 Missouri Valley Conference win at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb.

    The Missouri State (28-19, 13-5 MVC) win clogs up the league standings even more than they were when the day began, as Creighton (28-20, 14-5) now sits a half game ahead of MSU in second and Indiana State moved to first with a 14-4 record after beating Evansville on Saturday.

    Dallas Hord led the offensive barrage by collecting hits in his final five plate appearances in a 5-for-6 afternoon. Chris Playter and Tyler Ryun had three-hit days, while Brayden Drake was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Ben Carlson slugged a key three-run homer in the sixth.

    Hord tripled home Carlson and scored on a Playter single in the fourth to answer Darin Ruf’s two-run homer an inning earlier, but the Bears fell behind again when CU hit back-to-back doubles in the bottom of that inning.

    Drake bombed his eighth homer of the year and third in as many games well into the seats in right center to tie the game again with one out in the fifth. Hord then reached on a two-out single and Playter one-hopped the wall in left-center for an RBI double and MSU’s first lead of the game.

    The Bears added to their lead in a big way in the sixth. After Kevin Medrano walked with one out and Drake was hit by the next pitch, Carlson snapped an 0-for-16 slump with his 14th home run of the year well over the right field fence to put the Bears up 7-3.

    Ryun drew a leadoff walk in the seventh and Trevor Rogers reached after his sacrifice attempt turned into a bunt single before Aaron Conway sacrificed both into scoring position. CU recorded the second out before Drake came through with a two-run single up the middle on a 1-2 pitch to make the lead 9-3.

    Creighton plated a run and had runners on second and third with one out in the seventh to bring Sean Toler in to relieve Buddy Baumann (9-1), who struck out nine over 6.1 innings for the win. Jimmy Swift hit Toler’s first pitch for a two-run single that pulled CU within three at 9-6. Toler threw wildly trying to turn the inning-ending double play after that, bringing Tim Clubb in to settle things down. Clubb retired the next two hitters to keep the lead intact.

    The Bears nearly had three more in the eighth, but T.J. Roemmich reached above the right field wall to rob Rogers of a homer and end the frame. Ruf then hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to get Creighton within two.

    Hord gave the Bears some insurance in the ninth, driving in Conway with his fifth consecutive hit to push the lead to 10-7. It’s the first time a Bear has hit safely in five straight plate appearances since Matt Lawson in April 2006.

    Brant Combs retired the Bluejays in order in the ninth for his first save of the year.

    The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday back at the CU Sports Complex.