SPRINGFIELD – Spencer Nivens and Zack Stewart each drove in four runs and swatted three-run homers, and Missouri State scored four in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday at Hammons Field to secure a 12-2 run-rule victory against Valparaiso for the Bears’ 11th consecutive Missouri Valley Conference win.
Stewart blasted a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning, his ninth of the season, to give the Bears (25-16, 13-4 MVC) all the offense they would need.
Mason Hull, whose sacrifice fly in the seventh proved to be the game-ending RBI, led off the third with a single, stole second and scored on Taeg Gollert’s two-out single, and Nivens launched his 11th home of the year in the fourth to make it 7-0.
Valpo (16-18, 7-10) opened the fifth with a walk and single and scored twice with the help of two errors in its only scoring inning of the day. Hayden Minton allowed three singles and fanned seven in 4.2 innings in the start, and Forrest Barnes (3-1) yielded two singles with two strikeouts, pitching the final 2.1 innings in the winning decision.
Stewart added his fourth RBI on a ground out in the sixth for an 8-2 lead, and the offense in the seventh frame came on a Nick Rodriguez two-run single and Nivens RBI double before Hull’s sac fly ended it.
The Bears go for their fourth consecutive MVC sweep at 1 p.m. Sunday.
