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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Oklahoma State erased a six-run deficit to spoil Missouri State’s 2018 home opener with a 10-8 victory Wednesday afternoon at Hammons Field. The Cowboys took advantage of three MSU errors, striking for four runs in the third before turning an 8-5 Bears lead into a two-run advantage by scoring five more in the top of the seventh.
MSU (6-4) left the bases loaded in three of the final four innings, as four Cowboy relievers combined to hold the Bears to two runs over the final seven innings. Colin Simpson homered to spark the Cowboys’ (7-4) big inning and finished the day 3-for-5 with three runs scored, while Christian Funk drove home four runs for OSU.
The Bears built their early lead courtesy of two of the hottest hitters in their lineup, as Drew Millas and Hunter Steinmetz combined to drive in all four first-inning MSU runs. With one out, Jeremy Eierman coaxed a walk before stealing his team-leading fifth base of the season and coming around on Millas’s single through the right side of the OSU infield. Jack Duffy drew the second walk from OSU starter Ben Leeper in the inning to put two aboard, and Steinmetz made the right-hander pay with his first home run of the new season—a three-run shot to right—for a 4-0 MSU lead.
It would be the red-hot bat of Eierman that did the bulk of the damage the following frame, as the All-American ripped the first of his two doubles in the game to left, chasing home both Landan Ruff and John Privitera to stretch the Bears’ lead to six runs.
Bears starter Tyler McAlister enjoyed his share of early success as well, striking out five of the first eight OSU hitters of the game. The sophomore would fan a career-high nine hitters over his 4 1/3 innings, but ran into trouble in the third after a two-out walk and a Simpson single preceded the first of two MSU defensive miscues in what would become a four-run OSU rally. Matt Kroon’s chopper to the left side of the infield found its way through, and Funk followed with a three-run homer to right to slice the deficit to 6-4.
MSU answered with a run in the fourth on doubles by Eierman and Steinmetz, before the two clubs traded fifth-inning tallies. After Simpson doubled and Funk drove in his fourth run of the day with a one-out bounder to second to make it a 7-5 game, a three-base error on a fly ball to right off the bat of Logan Geha started the home half of the fifth. Ruff drove a triple into the gap in right-center to bring home the eighth MSU run of the game, but OSU reliever stranded him there, getting the top three hitters in the MSU order in succession.
Missed opportunities were plentiful for the Bears, who left a season-high 17 men on base in the contest. MSU loaded the bases in both the sixth and seventh innings, as Reza Aleaziz (1-0) fanned Ruff to end the sixth, before Brady Basso struck out both Steinmetz and Brooks Zimmerman with the sacks full the following frame.
Missouri State continues its five-game home stand with a three-game set against Arkansas State this weekend, beginning with a 3 p.m. contest Friday (March 9) at Hammons Field.
