SPRINGFIELD – Behind big offensive days from Blake Graham and Jake Burger, Missouri State swept a doubleheader from Wichita State Sunday afternoon to improve to 9-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play and run its regular-season MVC win streak to a program-record 13 straight games.
The duo of Graham and Burger accounted for 12 of the Bears’ 26 hits on the day, as MSU (27-13, 9-0 MVC) surpassed its 12-game regular-season Valley win streak from May 9, 1993 through April 17, 1994, with its sixth-consecutive victory overall with a 13-4 win in game one and an 8-1 decision over the Shockers in the nightcap to complete its three-game series sweep.
Graham hit .727 (8-for-11) with nine RBIs in the series, while Burger went 6-for-11 and drove in five runs on the day in helping the Bears post their first 9-0 start to a conference season since finishing the 1990 season 11-0 in their final Mid-Continent Conference campaign.
Game 1 – Missouri State 13, Wichita State 4
Powered by a pair of five-run innings, the Bears ran away with a 13-4 victory to secure their third straight MVC series win, as Graham and Burger teamed up to drive in 10 runs. Graham recorded a career-high six RBIs as part of his 3-for-4 performance, including a seventh-inning grand slam that helped put the game out of reach.
After Graham’s first-inning sacrifice fly handed MSU a 1-0 lead, the Bears’ offense erupted for a five-run rally in the fourth, sparked by Alex Jefferson’s leadoff home run. A hit batsman and a walk from WSU starter Cody Tyler (4-4) opened the door to a big inning, and Jake Burger greeted reliever Preston Snavely with a screaming three-run shot that cleared the wall in left-center for a 5-0 MSU lead
A walk to Jeremy Eierman and a WSU fielding miscue led to a fifth run in the inning, as Matt Brown delivered a two-out single to stretch the margin to six runs.
The Bears converted an Aaron Meyer single and a Graham double into a run in the sixth and appeared to be cruising behind the pitching of Dylan Coleman (5-2). The sophomore right-hander breezed through the first six frames, allowing just two WSU singles while striking out five hitters.
But the visitors broke through in the seventh, using a Noah Croft two-run homer and back-to-back extra-base hits by Trey Vickers and Luke Ritter to pull to within 7-4.
Logan Geha, who reached base safely in four of his five trips to the plate, led off the home half of the seventh with a base on balls to ignite another MSU rally. A Burger base hit and a wild pitch brought home Geha, before a walk to Eierman and Meyer’s second infield hit of the day loaded the bases. Graham barreled up an Adam Keller offering for his first career grand slam and fifth home run of the season, turning an 8-4 game into an eight-run bulge for the Bears.
A Geha single and a Burger RBI fielder’s choice accounted for the final MSU run in the bottom of the eighth, and freshman left-hander Nate Witherspoon finished off the Shockers with 2.0 innings of one-hit relief.
Both Meyer (2-for-5) and Hunter Steinmetz (2-for-4) added multi-hit games for the Bears, while Geha scored a career-best three runs in the victory.
Tyler suffered the loss for WSU after allowing four runs on three hits and three walks over his 3 1/3 innings.
Game 2 – Missouri State 8, Wichita State 1
MSU picked up right where it left off in the opening contest, striking for three first-inning runs that junior left-hander Doug Still (6-1) and a pair of relievers would make stand for the duration. Graham once again delivered a critical blow, lacing a two-out, RBI double to right off WSU starter Tommy Barnhouse (2-3) to plate the game’s first run and set up Meyer’s two-run homer that handed Still and the Bears a 3-0 lead.
Still worked around a pair of singles in the first with the help of the first of three double plays turned by the MSU infield. He avoided trouble in the third when Brown initiated a 3-6-3 twin-killing following a leadoff walk, and again in the fifth after a Vickers single started the inning. Gunnar Troutwine bounced into a 6-4-3 double play as the first of six straight Shockers Still would retire. He saved his best for last, working his way out of trouble in the seventh with three key punchouts to leave the bases full of Shockers and preserve a three-run lead.
The Bears scored again in the fourth on Jefferson’s two-out single that plated Drew Millas, who doubled with one out for the first of his two pivotal hits in the game. Millas would factor prominently again in the seventh, bouncing a two-out single up the middle to bring in the fifth and sixth MSU runs of the game.
Burger and Graham teamed up one more time to drive in a pair of eighth-inning runs, with each recording their third hit of the game via run-scoring singles that pushed the Bears’ lead to seven runs.
Still picked up his team-leading sixth mound victory of the season, allowing just one run on five hits while fanning five Shockers over his 7.0 innings. The lone blemish on his outing occurred in the fourth, when Dayton Dugas drew a leadoff walk before an Alec Bohm single and a Willie Schwanke ground ball brought in the only Shocker run of the contest. Still maneuvered his way out of harm’s way in that inning as well, striking out Luke Ritter and coaxing a come-backer off the bat of Alex Jackson to strand Bohm at third.
Barnhouse took the loss for the Shockers, allowing four runs on eight hits and three walks over 5.0 innings of work. Bohm led the way for the WSU offense, finishing 3-for-4, while Vickers added a pair of hits in four trips to the dish.
Missouri State will wrap up its four-game home stand Tuesday (April 25) evening with a 6:30 p.m. non-conference matchup with Missouri at Hammons Field.
