CARBONDALE, Ill. – Taeg Gollert went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs, and Cody Kelly’s two-out, two-run double in the eighth broke a 4-4 tie as the Bears took game one of the series at Southern Illinois by an 8-5 final Friday evening at Itchy Jones Stadium.
With their 17th win in the last 19 Missouri Valley Conference games, the Bears improved to 30-17 overall and 17-5 in league play, and within two games of first-place Indiana State with five to play. They also expanded the lead on SIU (28-22, 13-9) to four games in the race for a top-two finish.
Missouri State jumped ahead 2-0 in the second when Gollert’s 10th homer of the season made it 2-0 after Zack Stewart’s leadoff single, and it was a 2-1 lead entering the sixth as Brandt Thompson allowed just a solo homer to cross the plate in his first five innings of work.
Spencer Nivens led off the sixth with a double and scored on Stewart’s Valley-leading 18th two-bagger before the freshman scored on a Gollert single for a 4-1 lead.
The Salukis answered back with a pair in the bottom half to end Thompson’s day and pulled even at 4-4 with a two-out single in the seventh.
MoState took the lead for good in the eighth, with Nick Rodriguez hitting a leadoff single and Mason Hull getting plunked to set the table for Kelly’s double, which came after the junior battled from an 0-2 count to pull the two-RBI hit off the right field wall.
SIU responded with an unearned run in the bottom half for 6-5, Cam Cratic led off the ninth with a double and was lifted for pinch runner Will Duff. Dylan Robertson’s double drove in Duff, and Robertson scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-5 after the only two walks drawn by the Bears in the game loaded the bases.
Trey Ziegenbein (3-4) got the winning decision in relief and Reed Metz pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts to close out his first career save. With Thompson’s five Ks, the Bears combined to strike out nine Salukis while issuing just one walk.
Game two of the series is set for 2 p.m. Saturday.
