MONROE, La.- Missouri State moved to 2-0 for the ninth time in the last 12 seasons Saturday with a 6-5 win at ULM, leaving the bases full of Warhawks in a tense ninth inning to escape victorious on a chilly, breezy day at Lou St. Amant Field.
Entering the ninth with a 6-4 lead, the Bears surrendered a hit batter and walk to ULM (0-2) to begin the inning and bring senior transfer Hunter Day in from the bullpen. The Warhawks were able to get a run across with a one-out single and loaded the bases when Day got a grounder to second base to secure the save and an MSU win.
The Bears broke the scoreless tie in the fourth inning when Logan Chambers and Taeg Gollert drew walks to begin the frame and scored on a Zack Stewart RBI single and sacrifice fly by Caden Bogenpohl.
The Warhawks took their first lead of the series in the bottom half, going ahead 3-2 with the aid of two MSU errors on sac bunt attempts in addition to two walks and a single.
MoState took the lead back three batters later as Jake McCutcheon led off the fifth with a walk and scored on a one-out home run by Chambers. ULM walked two Bears after that to set up an RBI single by Nick Rodriguez for a 5-3 advantage.
A leadoff walk came around to score for ULM in the bottom of the fifth, and the Warhawks threatened with two in scoring position and one out in the seventh when MSU shortstop Tyler Epstein turned an unassisted double play to preserve the 5-4 lead.
Bogenpohl drew a leadoff walk in the eighth and scored on a two-out single by Jahlani Rogers to make it 6-4, and Tyler Tscherter finished off 1.2 innings of scoreless relief before handing the game over in the ninth.
Michael Lindsey (1-0) earned the winning decision on the mound, striking out four and yielding a run on one hit in three innings of relief.
The Bears go for the series sweep at 1 p.m. Sunday.
