WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita State’s Mauricio Millan hit a two-out single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday afternoon at Eck Stadium to give the Shockers a 9-8 victory over Missouri State in a game that lasted four hours, five minutes.
After Max Knight tied it at 8-8 in the top of the ninth with a solo homer for his career high third hit, the Bears (5-9) got two quick outs to begin the ninth inning before committing two errors with a walk in between to set up Millan’s game-winner.
The Shockers (6-9) jumped on MSU early with a four-run first, but starter Tyler Charlton settled down after that and allowed only one hit over the next three innings.
The offense, meanwhile, struck for five in the third to lead 5-4. Logan Dunn opened with a walk, and the Bears hit for the team cycle across the next five hitters, getting a double from Caden Bogenpohl, two-run triple from Taeg Gollert, Jake McCutcheon RBI single and Carter Bergman two-run homer.
McCutcheon and Dunn had sac flies in the next two innings for a 7-4 lead, but the Shockers strung together three consecutive two-out RBI hits in the bottom of the fifth for a 7-7 tie.
WSU added an RBI double in the sixth for 8-7, and the score held there until Knight’s homer in the ninth, in large part due to Knight’s two hitless innings of relief.
Bogenpohl tied a career-high with three hits and Gollert was a homer short of the cycle as MoState matched a season high with 15 hits.
The Bears will play 11 of their next 13 games at Hammons Field, beginning with a 3 p.m. Tuesday contest with Oral Roberts.
