SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State hit four home runs and six doubles Tuesday afternoon at Hammons Field against 12th-ranked Oklahoma State, but a seven-run seventh by the visitors was the difference in 12-10 setback that ended the Bears’ four-game winning streak.
The Bears (5-3) got rolling early with three homers in the third inning, solo shots by Zack Stewart and Dylan Robertson, and a three-run blast by Spencer Nivens, his fourth of the year, for a 5-0 lead.
The Cowboys (5-3), chipped away with single runs in the fourth and sixth frames around a three-run fifth for a 5-5 tie before Nivens struck again in the sixth, hitting an RBI double that scored two thanks to an OSU error, then coming home on a wild pitch to make it 8-5.
The first four OSU hitters reach safely in the seventh to tie the game and the Cowboys scored the go-ahead run when the relay throw on a potential inning-ending double play got loose and allowed a runner to scamper home from third base. That error opened the door for a three-run homer several batters later that gave the Pokes a 12-8 advantage.
Robertson answered in the bottom half with his second round-tripper of the game to make it 12-9, and the Bears rallied in the ninth with a Mason Hull single and Stewart’s second double of the afternoon preceding a wild pitch for a 12-10 score. The Cowboys escaped by getting a grounder to short and a Robertson fly out to the warning track to end it.
Tyler Tscherter tossed three shutout innings in the start for the Bears, who used six different relievers after that.
Nivens and Stewart both went 3-for-5 with a home run and two doubles, while Robertson became the second Bear this season with a multi-homer game. Missouri State has homered in all eight contests this year with 17 total.
The Bears hit the road this weekend for a three-game series at Arkansas State beginning Friday at 6 p.m. in Jonesboro.
