SPRINGFIELD – Freshman Taeg Gollert hit his second walk-off home run of the month and Brandt Thompson threw seven shutout innings on the mound for Missouri State Friday evening at Hammons Field as the Bears extended their Missouri Valley Conference winning streak to 10 games with a 4-3, 10-inning victory over visiting Valparaiso.
Missouri State’s pitching was on cruise control much of the night, with Thompson striking out three in a row with the bases loaded in the second inning to start of streak of eight straight retired, then combining with Trey Ziegenbein to retire 10 consecutive Beacons in the sixth through ninth frames.
After Thompson fanned seven against six hits and a walk in seven innings to exit with a 3-0 lead, Ziegenbein sat down the first five Valpo (16-17, 7-9) hitters he faced to run his personal streak to 17 straight retirements before issuing a pair of walks and a three-run homer that sent the game to extra innings.
Freshman Garrett Ferguson (2-1) got the final four outs of the game for the Bears, and Gollert led off the 10th with his ninth homer of the season and second walk-off after hitting a game-ending grand slam on April 9 versus Bradley.
The Bears (24-16, 12-4) took a 1-0 lead in the first on Zack Stewart’s two-out triple, added a sac fly from Jake McCutcheon in the fourth and made it 3-0 in the fifth on Cam Cratic’s RBI single as part of a 3-for-4 day in which the sixth-year senior extended his hit streak to a career-best 10 games.
Prior to Cratic’s at-bat in the fifth, Valpo robbed Gollert of a potential three-run home run that resulted in an inning-ending double play on the Bears’ tagging Mason Hull at second, however, replay showed that Hull did not leave the bag early and the inning was extended for Cratic’s pivotal at bat.
MoState state improved to 12-4 in April for its highest single-month win total since May 2018.
Game two of the series is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday.
