SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State smacked four home runs Saturday, highlighted by Max Knight’s grand slam, to run rule SIU Edwardsville 13-3 and even the weekend series at Hammons Field.
Knight finished with five RBIs in the game, the most for a Bear since Tyler Epstein on May 4 of last season, and pitched two scoreless innings on the mound, marking the fourth time this season he has homered and pitched in the same game.
Zack Stewart got the scoring started with a two-run homer in the second, Knight hit his grand slam in the third, and Jake McCutcheon led off the fourth with another round-tripper as part of his 3-for-4 day at the plate to make it 7-0.
SIUE (6-11) hit a two-run homer in the fifth and a two-out RBI single in the sixth for its only scoring off MSU starter Jackson Holmes (2-3), who struck out a career-high nine batters in his 38th collegiate start.
Caden Bogenpohl opened the sixth with a home run to extend his reached base streak to 30 games, and Knight added an RBI single later in the inning for a 9-3 advantage.
Nick Rodriguez and Taeg Gollert hit RBI singles for the Bears (6-11) in the seventh, and Logan Dunn’s two-run double in the eighth ended the game.
MoState’s run total was a season high while the four homers tied a season best. All nine starters recorded a hit, with Dunn securing hit first career two-hit day in addition to multi-hit efforts from McCutcheon, Rodriguez and Knight.
Game three of the series is at 1 p.m. Sunday.
