Missouri State broke a 42-year-old school record for walks and matched its season high for runs scored in a 15-4 victory over Saint Louis Tuesday (April 5) evening at Hammons Field. Alex Jefferson provided a key blow early with a two-out, three-run double in the first inning, while the freshman duo of Jeremy Eierman and Hunter Steinmetz combined to draw five walks and score six runs on the night.
Sparked by a four-run first inning rally, the Bears (23-5) eventually built a 10-1 lead, thanks in large part to a patient approach at the plate that produced 17 bases on balls. That figure eclipsed the previous MSU single-game high of 16 free passes, set on April 19, 1974 vs. Missouri S&T.
Eierman reached base in four of his five plate appearances, going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks and three runs scored, while Steinmetz coaxed three free bases and scored three times as well. On the mound, Ryan Dunne (1-1) turned in a solid 5 2/3 inning start, allowing just one run on six hits while striking out a career-best six hitters to earn his first victory as a Bear.
Missouri State capitalized on a trio of walks from SLU starter Luke Sommerfeld and a two-out error to plate its four first-inning runs. Steinmetz and Spencer Johnson got the rally started by drawing back-to-back free passes, before Sommerfeld recovered to retire Burger on a fly ball. Justin Paulsen put the Bears in the scoring column with an RBI grounder to second for a 1-0 advantage, before Blake Graham’s hot shot to short was mishandled, opening the door to a big inning.
Another walk, the first of four drawn by Matt Fultz in the game, loaded the bases for Jefferson, who deposited Sommerfeld’s first offering over the SLU right-fielder’s head for a bases-clearing double and a 4-0 Bears lead.
An Aaron Meyer leadoff double initiated the Bears’ fourth, stretching the junior’s career-best hit streak to 20 games in the process. Eierman followed with his second hit of the night, beating out a bunt single before SLU reliever Jackson Wark fired wildly to first to allow Meyer time to trot home. Another walk to Steinmetz preceded Johnson’s line-drive double to left that brought home Eierman, before a wild pitch plated a third run in the rally.
Meyer, who finished 1-for-2, became the first Bear to record hits in 20 consecutive games Kevin Medrano hit in 29 straight contests from March 23 to May 14, 2010.
The Bears added two more tallies in the fifth, using three consecutive one-out walks and an error to extend their lead to 9-1. Eierman and Steinmetz were once again at the forefront, drawing the first two of the three walks, before Burger’s fielder’s choice grounder and a fielding error produced two more runs.
A leadoff walk to Matt Dezort in the seventh came home to roost as well, extending the MSU lead to nine runs after the fourth SLU error of the game and a chopper to third by Landan Ruff.
SLU (15-14) got to MSU reliever Ryan Mantle for three runs in the eighth, using back-to-back doubles by Josh Bunselmeyer and Braxton Martinez, followed by a two-run homer from Trent Leimkuehler to momentarily slice the deficit to 10-4.
But the Bears answered with their biggest inning of the night in the home half of the inning to put the game out of reach. Two more walks and a hit batsman set up Steinmetz’s RBI bouncer to first, before Dezort drove in a run with a base hit to right and Burger doubled home his second and third runs of the night with a line shot to left.
Dunne handled the powerful SLU lineup throughout his stint, working out of a first-inning jam by inducing a grounder to short off the bat of Bunselmeyer and a fly ball to center from Leimkuehler to thwart the threat. The right-hander allowed just one more baserunner over the ensuing three frames, before the Billikens broke up his shutout bid in the fifth after a double by James Morisano and a two-out single by Parker Sniatynski.
Bears reliever Jake Fromson took over for Dunne following back-to-back two-out hits in the sixth, and the sophomore proceeded to strike out two of the four hitters he faced in a perfect inning-and-a-third appearance.
The Bears conclude their five-game home stand Wednesday (April 6) evening, when they welcome Kansas to Hammons Field for a 6:35 p.m. non-conference contest.
