SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State scored 25 runs Sunday afternoon at Hammons Field to complete the weekend sweep of Valparaiso and stay alone in first place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.
The Bears improved to 19-15 overall and 10-2 in MVC play with their 12th win in the last 15 games. Valpo moved to 8-22 and 3-9 in Valley games.
Game notes and superlatives:
—MSU’s 25 runs are the most since scoring that many against Southwest Baptist on April 4, 2000. It ties the Bears’ fourth-most ever against a fellow Division I opponent and most versus a D1 team since scoring 27 against Indiana State on April 10, 1999.
—The Bears’ run total is a Hammons Field record.
—Zack Stewart tied a school single game record by walking five times. Stewart now shares the record with Lance Burkhart (2/14/97 vs. Nevada), Steve Hacker (4/23/95 vs. UNI) and Cory Krueger (3/15/91 vs. Austin Peay). He scored a career high five runs and added an RBI double to become the first Bear to reach safely six times in a game since Ben Whetstone at Oral Roberts on Feb. 24, 2021.
—With a double in the first inning, Nick Rodriguez extended his hitting streak to 21 games, tying Drake Baldwin (2021) and Evan Pratte (1990) for the sixth-longest streak in school history. Rodriguez now has at least one extra base hit in 13 consecutive games.
—Caden Bogenpohl led off the game with a walk to extend his reached base streak to 47 games. He added a grand slam in the fourth inning and finished with career highs for RBIs (5) and runs scored (4).
—The Bears had a season-high 19 hits and drew a season-best 14 walks.
—Missouri State has earned at least one run-rule victory in nine of its last 11 MVC series.
—Jake McCutcheon equaled his career high with four hits.
—Brant Kragel collected his first career hit with a single in the fifth.
—Curry Sutherland, Tyler Epstein and Logan Dunn each drove in three runs.
—MSU’s nine-run fifth inning was the team’s highest-scoring frame since May 3 of last season.
—Ten Bears recorded a hit, 11 scored a run and nine had an RBI.
—Missouri State took a 4-0 in the first inning and Valpo countered with three home runs to lead 5-4 in the third.
The Bears scored 20 unanswered after that, with six in third, five in the fourth and nine in the fifth for a 24-5 lead. The teams exchanged single runs in the next three half innings for the final score.
The Bears visit Missouri (12-23) Tuesday at 6 p.m. for the first game of this season’s home-and-home series. The Tigers return to Hammons Field on April 22.
