[wpbvideo id=’304536′]
SPRINGFIELD – Powered by a trio of early home runs, Missouri State built a five-run lead then rode the pitching of Dylan Coleman and Bryan Young to a 6-3 elimination-game victory over Wichita State in the final Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship meeting of the two schools Friday afternoon at Hammons Field.
Coleman (8-3) struck out a career-high 13 hitters over 6 1/3 innings, and Young locked down the final 2.2 frames to secure his eighth save of the season and a rematch with eighth-seeded Illinois State tonight at 7:30 p.m.
Missouri State (39-16) turned to the long ball to gain control of the game early, as Blake Graham launched an opposite-field solo shot to open the home half of the second inning. Alex Jefferson followed with a double to right, and Logan Geha’s two-out double chased the runner home for a two-run MSU margin.
Justin Paulsen and Jake Burger extended the lead with back-to-back homers off WSU starter Robbie Evans (0-1) to start the third. Burger’s blast—his career-best 22nd of the season—cleared the bullpen in left-center field, giving the Bears a 4-0 cushion. Evans hit Jeremy Eierman with his next pitch, and the sophomore shortstop promptly swiped second, then scored on Graham’s RBI single.
Coleman cruised through the first three frames, retiring 10 straight Shocker hitters after surrendering a double to Greyson Jenista to start the game. He fanned at least two batters in five of the first six innings, including the fifth when he struck out the side to strand runners on the corners and preserve a four-run lead.
WSU broke into the scoring column in the fourth on the heels of a one-out Alec Bohm single and a Willie Schwanke double. Coleman responded with back-to-back punchouts to kick off a stretch that would see the right-hander fan five of seven hitters.
Bohm pulled the fifth-seeded Shockers (28-30) back to within three runs with his 11th home run of the season to lead off the sixth, and Jordan Boyer followed suit with a one-out bomb to right in the seventh after a two-out Shocker error led to an unearned MSU run in the top of the inning. After Jenista’s third hit of the game—an infield single—forced a call to the MSU bullpen, Young would work around a fielding error to escape the inning without incurring further damage. The All-American induced a chopper deep in the hole at short that Eierman turned into a force out at second, before coaxing a roller to first off the bat of Luke Ritter to end the threat.
After Jacob Katzfey ripped a single to right to start the eighth, Young slammed the door shut by recording six consecutive outs—three via strikeouts—to finish the victory and his 35th career save.
Graham led the Bears’ charge with a 3-for-4 day at the plate, including his ninth round-tripper of the spring. Hunter Steinmetz delivered his second straight multi-hit effort with a 2-for-5 performance and Paulsen finished with two hits as well.
Coleman allowed three runs on eight hits and just one walk over his 6.1 innings, while Young rung up three WSU hitters and allowed just one hit in his 19th scoreless appearance in 22 total outings this season.
Up next, the Bears will attempt to avenge back-to-back losses to Illinois State (15-38), which has already matched its 2017 MVC season total for wins in its first two games of the Valley Championship. MSU will need to turn the tables and win two games against ISU over the next to days to earn a third-consecutive berth in the title game of the MVC Tournament, which is slated for a 7 p.m. first pitch Saturday (May 27).
