SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State picked up its fifth series victory in seven weekends this season with an 8-3 win Sunday afternoon against Belmont at Hammons Field.
The Bears moved to 5-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play and 13-13 overall thanks to the one-two punch of Jason Schaaf and Max Knight on the mound and a seven-run fourth inning.
Schaaf (1-0) struck out five and yielded three runs on five hits in 5.1 innings for the win, while Knight allowed just two baserunners while recording the final 11 outs for his second save of the week.
After Belmont (10-19, 2-4) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth, Missouri State loaded the bases on walks with no outs in the bottom half and the next seven hitters recorded an RBI.
Tyler Epstein walked to tie the game, Carter Bergman was hit by pitch to force in the go-ahead run, Caden Bogenpohl hit a sacrifice fly, Nick Rodriguez had an RBI double, Taeg Gollert lifted a sac fly, and Knight and Dylan Robertson finished the scoring with RBI singles for the 7-1 lead.
Belmont scored two in the sixth to make it 7-3, and Gollert drove in Jake McCutcheon with his second double of the game for an insurance run in the eight. In addition to extending his hitting streak to a career-best 14 games, Gollert also moved into a tie with Spencer Johnson and Brian Mahaffey for ninth in MSU history with 49 career doubles.
Rodriguez moved his hit streak to 13 games, and Bogenpohl walked in the third inning to reach safely for the 39th consecutive contest.
The Bears are back in action Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against Oklahoma State at Hammons Field.
