CHICAGO – Missouri State finished its weekend series at UIC Saturday with a doubleheader split against the Flames, winning the opener 10-8 before losing 8-5 in the nightcap.
Despite dropping their first Missouri Valley Conference series of the season, the Bears (20-18, 11-4) remain alone atop the league standings. UIC is 7-8 in Valley play and 11-26 overall.
Missouri State begins a five-game home stand Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against Missouri. Tickets to home baseball games can be purchased here, and MSU students are admitted free.
Game One Recap (Missouri State won, 10-8)
The Bears led 10-2 in the seventh inning and held on for a 10-8 win to even the series in a game that lasted three hours and 56 minutes.
Jason Schaaf (3-0) yielded two runs on three hits in six strong innings, with UIC’s offense coming on a two-run homer in the second.
Carter Bergman had an RBI single in the second and Tyler Epstein added a sacrifice fly in the third for a 2-2 tie before the Bears erupted for a five-run fourth.
In the fourth, Nick Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly, Jake McCutcheon smacked a two-run double and Max Knight swatted a two-run homer, his 10th of the year, for a 7-2 lead.
Zack Stewart, Caden Bogenpohl and Rodriguez had RBI hits in the seventh before the Flames came storming back.
UIC scored five in the seventh and another in the eighth with four walks, three hit batters, three hits and an error in those two innings allowing the home to team close to 10-8.
Jackson Holmes entered with no outs in the eighth and fired a scoreless final two innings for his third save of the year.
Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with two singles to extend his hitting streak to 24 games, tying Jason Hart and Nick Kays for third-longest in school history. His streak of 15 straight games with an extra-base hit came to an end.
Bogenpohl extended his reached base streak to 50 games with a hit and a walk. McCutcheon went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs. Taeg Gollert (16) and Epstein (12) saw their respective hit streaks end.
Game Two Recap (UIC won, 8-5)
UIC ambushed the Bears with six runs on eight hits in the second inning and never looked back.
It was 7-0 Flames after four innings before Bergman hit the first of MSU’s four home runs in the game. Knight (11th) hit a solo shot in the seventh and Rodriguez (12th) added one in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to 25 games.
Bergman added a two-run shot in the ninth for his second career multi-homer game, the other coming at UIC his freshman season.
After a tough start for Tyler Charlton, the Bears’ bullpen trio of Owen Slater, Jake Syverson and Curry Sutherland combined to allow two runs in 5.2 innings. Sutherland recorded a career-high five outs on the mound, all via strikeout.
Bogenpohl’s on-base streak ended at 50 games with a 0-for-5 night.
