SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State scored in six different innings Sunday afternoon in an 8-2 victory over Bradley at Hammons Field, opening Missouri Valley Conference play with a three-game sweep for the first time since 2017.
Missouri State’s (10-12, 3-0) 4-8 hitters each had two hits, with Curry Sutherland tying a career high with four RBIs while homering for the third consecutive game.
Tyler Charlton (4-1) threw five shutout innings on the mound, scattering four singles and striking out six, and Jackson Holmes struck out four on the way to earning a four-inning save.
Max Knight opened the second inning with a double and scored on a Zack Stewart single, and Carter Bergman led off the next frame with his third homer of the year for a 2-0 lead.
Sutherland’s two-run homer made it 4-0 in the fourth, and Caden Bogenpohl extended his reached base streak to 35 games with a leadoff walk in the fifth before scoring on one of Taeg Gollert’s two doubles.
Sutherland walked and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth and added a two-run single in the eighth for the 8-2 final.
Bradley (3-16, 0-3) tallied single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, with a big opportunity erased in the seventh by the Bears turning one of their season-high three double plays with the bases loaded to end the threat.
MoState heads to No. 3 Arkansas on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. game in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks make the return trip to Springfield on April 29
