EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Behind season highs of six home runs, including two grand slams, and 19 runs, Missouri State topped Evansville 19-8 Sunday afternoon for a run-rule win in the series finale at Braun Stadium.
The Bears (18-24, 7-11 Missouri Valley Conference) scored four in the first inning and never trailed, adding innings of six and eight runs down the line in the offensive showcase.
MSU’s first four batters reached to begin the game, leading to four runs on a Zack Stewart RBI single, Dylan Leach two-run double and Curry Sutherland sacrifice fly.
Evansville (24-19, 12-6) chipped away with single tallies in the first, second and fourth frames before the Bears erupted for eight runs in the fifth, their highest scoring inning of the season.
Nick Rodriguez began the onslaught with a two-run home run, Logan Chambers and Tyler Epstein knocked RBI singles, and Zack Stewart capped it with a grand slam, his 18th homer of the year and second slam of the season. It also made him the 20th Bear with 30 career round-trippers.
Missouri State added six more in the sixth, with Cody Kelly smacking his first career grand slam before Taeg Gollert and Rodriguez hit back-to-back shots later in the inning. It marked the sixth occasion of back-to-back homers for the Bears this year, and the second multi-homer game of Rodriguez’s career.
Evansville scored three on a pair of homers in the sixth, and Jahlani Rogers hit MSU’s first pinch-hit home run since Cam Cratic did so in April of 2023 in the seventh to make it 19-6. UE added two more in the seventh for the final margin.
Stephen Schissler (1-0) allowed run one in 1.1 innings of relief for his first winning decision as a Bear.
Gollert had three hits and six other players recorded two, while Caden Bogenpohl drew four walks and scored three times in the Bears’ highest-scoring game since the 2022 MVC Tournament. It was also MSU’s first game with two grand slams since Gollert hit a pair against Bradley on April 9 of last season.
The Bears stay on the road for a two-game midweek series at No. 2 Arkansas. Game times are 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and 4 p.m. Wednesday.
