SPRINGFIELD – Carter Bergman tied a career high with four RBIs, Zack Stewart belted his 40th career home run and Jason Schaaf matched a career best with seven innings on the mound to lead Missouri State to a 10-5 victory over Valparaiso Saturday afternoon at Hammons Field.
The Bears (18-15, 9-2 Missouri Valley Conference) claimed their seventh series victory in nine weekends this season and remained in first place in the league standings, while Valpo dropped to 8-21 overall and 3-8 in MVC games.
The Beacons took the early lead with a two-run double in the first inning, only to see Bergman blast a 420-foot home run in the bottom half for a 3-2 MoState lead.
Valpo tied it in the third, and Stewart put the Bears up for good at 4-3 with a solo homer in the fourth, becoming the 10th player in school history with 40 career long balls.
MoState broke it open with a four-run fifth, scoring on a Caden Bogenpohl double, Nick Rodriguez double and Jake McCutcheon two-run homer, his 12th of the year. Bogenpohl’s hit extended his reached base streak to 46 games, while Rodriguez ran his hitting streak to 20 games, tied for eighth-longest in school history.
McCutcheon and Knight opened the seventh with back-to-back singles, Bergman hit a sac fly and Knight worked around the bases with a steal, error and wild pitch to push the margin to 10-3.
Pitching on short rest after starting on Monday, Schaaf (2-0) needed just 83 pitches to get through seven innings in the winning effort.
Valpo pushed across single runs in the eighth and ninth frames for the final margin.
McCutcheon finished 3-for-4 with three runs, and the Bears scored in double figures for the ninth time in 17 home games.
MSU goes for the series sweep at 1 p.m. Sunday.
