TULSA, Okla. – Behind four solo home runs in the first three innings and a season-high 11 walks, Missouri State topped Oral Roberts 12-4 Tuesday evening at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
Caden Bogenpohl and Dylan Leach hit the second and third pitches of the game out of the park for the 2-0 lead, the ninth dinger of the year for each and the second leadoff bomb of the season for Bogenpohl.
An error allowed ORU (12-20-1) to get a run back in the bottom of the first, Carter Bergman scored on a wild pitch in the second, and Taeg Gollert and Curry Sutherland went back-to-back in the third to make it 5-1, marking the first time two pairs of Bears (14-17) hit consecutive homers in a game since March 2022 at Kansas.
The Golden Eagles halved the lead to 5-3 with a two-run sixth, and the Bears batted nine times in both the seventh and eighth frames, scoring four times without a hit in the seventh, then getting RBI hits from Gollert, Sutherland and Nick Rodriguez in the eighth to make it 12-4.
The Bears used seven pitchers on the night, with Brendan Beaver (1-2) the first out of the bullpen with three shutout innings, four strikeouts and just a single allowed to earn his first victory as a Bear.
Gollert added a double to his homer and reached safely four times, as did Leach and Rodriguez. Bogenpohl joined Gollert and Leach among Bears to score three runs.
Missouri State is home for a Thursday-Saturday, April 11-13 Missouri Valley Conference series with UIC (20-10, 5-4). Start time each day is 11 a.m.
