SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri State added another chapter to its 2018 series of late-inning heroics Friday afternoon, rallying from a one-run, seventh-inning deficit with single tallies in its final two turns at bat to pull out a 6-5 victory over Evansville at Hammons Field.
John Privitera‘s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning brought in the game-winning run, after Matt Brown and Jack Duffydrew back-to-back walks and Logan Geha bunted both runners into scoring position to set up the decisive rally. Privitera, who also drove in two runs with a second-inning double, matched a season high with three RBIs, while Brown reached safely in three of his four trips to the plate, scoring two runs and driving home another.
Senior reliever Jake Fromson (2-0) earned the victory with 3.0 innings of one-hit relief, using just 25 pitches while facing the minimum number of nine hitters.
MSU (20-7, 3-1 MVC) improved to 9-1 in one-run contests, while maintaining its perfect record (7-0) in games following a loss this season.
The Bears’ 11th come-from-behind victory of the season—and their eighth-straight home win—appeared in doubt after the Purple Aces (6-17, 0-1 MVC) erased a 4-1 deficit against MSU starter Dylan Coleman. UE sliced the lead to two runs on Dalton Horstmeier’s RBI double in the fourth, then struck for three runs on four singles in the sixth to claim a 5-4 advantage.
Coleman, who fanned six batters to move into the Bears’ all-time top five list for strikeouts, was in control early, retiring nine straight Aces after a leadoff single and a steal of second by Sam Troyer led to an Evansville run in the first.
MSU answered UE’s first-inning run with one of its own, as Hunter Steinmetz reached on a hit by pitch and Jeremy Eierman singled to set up a Drew Millas run-scoring grounder. The Bears scored in each of the following two innings as well, as another hit batsman (Brown) and a Jack Duffy single preceded Geha’s first sac bunt of the game and Privitera’s liner just inside the first-base bag that brought home both runners for a 3-1 Bears lead.
Millas led off the third with an infield hit, swiped second for his first steal of the season and came around on Brown’s two-out single up the middle that handed Coleman and the Bears a three-run cushion heading into the fourth inning. The junior right-hander cruised through the first five innings, allowing just two hits and three total baserunners.
But, after the first of Horstmeier’s three hits on the day cut the UE deficit to two runs in the fourth, the Aces finally got to Coleman two innings later, as Craig Shepherd’s leadoff single kicked the visitors’ offense into gear. A sac bunt from Troyer moved the runner into scoring position, and Troy Beilsmith’s base hit chased Shepherd home to make it a one-run game and begin a string of three straight singles by UE hitters. Tanner Craig added a hit to tie the score, before Kenton Crews handed the Aces a 5-4 lead with a ground ball to the right side that plated Horstmeier.
Eierman, who finished 2-for-4, got the ball rolling for the Bears in the seventh, lining a leadoff double up the left-field line. A throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt allowed him to advance to third, and Millas drove in his second run of the day with a sac fly to center.
In addition to his two critical sacrifices, Geha delivered two hits, while Ben Whetstone extended his streak of reaching base safely via a hit, walk or hit by pitch 27 straight games with his fifth-inning single.
The Bears and Purple Aces are scheduled to continue their series Saturday (April 7) with a 2 p.m. contest, before wrapping up the weekend with another 1 p.m. game Sunday.
