CHICAGO – Missouri State lit up the scoreboard in both games of Saturday’s doubleheader sweep at UIC, beating the Flames by scores of 19-3 and 12-6 at Curtis Granderson Stadium.
The Bears (19-15, 8-4 Missouri Valley Conference) belted eight home runs and 14 total extra-base hits in the two games while extending their MVC winning streak to six games, the program’s longest since winning eight in a row in May 2018 on the way to a regular season championship.
Eight different Bears logged three or more hits in the two games, with Cody Kelly belting three homers with six RBI and Spencer Nivens driving in six as well, all in game one.
Missouri State stays on the road for a 6 p.m. Tuesday contest at Missouri.
Game 1 Recap – Missouri State won, 19-3 (7 innings)
Missouri State scored three-plus runs in five of seven innings in a run-rule victory, setting season highs with 19 runs and 19 hits.
Nivens blasted a three-run homer in the first inning, his 10th of the season, and the Bears never looked back, as Nivens went 3-for-5 with six RBI to tie a career high, driving in all six runs before UIC batted one time through the lineup.
Missouri State sent 11 men to the plate in a six-run second, with Jake McCutcheon’s two-run single capping the scoring during a 3-for-5 day with a career-high three RBI for the freshman.
The Bears added three more in the third and duplicated that in the fourth to lead 15-1. UIC plated single runs in the fourth and fifth frames, and Missouri State put up a four-spot in the seventh for the 19-3 final.
Kelly led off the big seventh with a solo home run, MSU’s 50th of the season, McCutcheon doubled, Carter Bergman drove him home with his first career double and RBI, and Dylan Robertson followed with a two-run homer.
Taeg Gollert tied a career high with three hits and Mason Hull matched his career best with four runs.
Hayden Minton (3-1) went five innings on the mound for the victory, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits with eight strikeouts. Drew Townsend and Reed Metz both made their MoState pitching debuts with a scoreless sixth and seventh, respectively.
Game 2 Recap – Missouri State won, 12-6
Missouri State hit a season-high five home runs, including two each from Bergman and Kelly, who became the first MSU teammates to both hit multiple bombs in a game since Drake Baldwin, Will Duff and Dakota Kotowski all did it on March 2 of last season at Kansas.
After spotting UIC (14-17, 3-9) a three-run homer in the third, the Bears scored five in the fourth and six in the fifth to swing the score their way for good.
A Hull single and Zack Stewart’s MVC-leading 14th double preceded Kelly’s game-tying homer in the fourth, and Bergman added a two-run shot two batters later for the lead.
The Bears loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth to set up Stewart’s first career grand slam and seventh homer of the year, and a McCutcheon sac fly and Bergman’s second career homer made it 11-3.
Kelly added a solo shot in the ninth, his ninth of the season, and UIC pushed across three in the bottom of the ninth for the 12-6 final.
Jake Eddington (2-0) struck out a career-best seven batters in five innings for the win, and Forrest Barnes pitched the next three frames, striking out five and retiring the last nine Flames he faced after allowing a hit to the first batter he faced.
