SPRINGFIELD – After a quiet first six innings Saturday at Hammons Field, Missouri State sent 12 men to the plate and scored seven times in a decisive seventh frame to earn a 9-7 victory and clinch the Missouri Valley Conference series win against Bradley with the finale scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.The Bears (15-14, 4-4 MVC) managed a run on two hits through six frames and trailed 5-1 entering the bottom of the seventh when Taeg Gollert, Dylan Robertson and Jake McCutcheon opened with three consecutive singles to load the bases.Nick Rodriguez followed with an RBI single, Mason Hull was hit by a pitch to force a run home, Spencer Nivens added an RBI single, Zack Stewart walked to force in the tying run, Cam Cratic gave MSU the lead with a two-run single, and Robertson’s RBI fielder’s choice capped the scoring with an 8-5 lead.Stewart added an RBI single in the eighth for needed insurance as Bradley strung together a home run, double and single to make it 9-7 in the top of the ninth when Garrett Ferguson came in to get a fly out to center field for the one-pitch save, his second save in as many days.The Braves (10-16, 3-5) struck first with two runs on four hits in the first inning, and MSU got on the board in the third inning when Anthony Socci was hit by a pitch to open the frame and eventually scored on a Nivens ground out.A leadoff infield single, error and sacrifice fly gave Bradley a 3-1 lead in the fourth, and a two-out, two-run double put the Braves ahead 5-1 in the sixth.Hayden Minton went six innings for the Bears in the start, and Forrest Barnes (2-1) threw the next two innings for the winning decision.Nivens, Stewart and Cratic all drove in two runs for an offense that failed to record an extra-base hit for just the second time this season. A total of 17 Bear batters reached safely with only five strikeouts on the day.
