SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State fell in both games of Saturday’s doubleheader with ninth-ranked Indiana State to close out the regular season at Hammons Field.
The Sycamores concluded their regular season Missouri Valley Conference championship with a 24-3 league mark and 38-14 overall record, while the Bears finished second in the standings at 18-9 in the MVC and 31-21 overall.
Missouri State’s 18 conference victories tie the 2018, 2017, 2015 and 2008 teams for the program’s most MVC victories in a season since winning 19 league games in 2004.
The Bears begin MVC Tournament play Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Central as the No. 2 seed, and their opponent will be determined after Tuesday’s opening round games.
Game 1 Recap – Indiana State won, 9-5
The Bears fell behind 8-1 and came within inches of the go-ahead home run in the eighth before falling 9-5.
Indiana State scored three runs on four hits in the second inning, hit a two-run homer in the fifth, added two more on four runners in the fifth and belted a solo homer in the sixth to build the 8-1 advantage.
Nick Rodriguez knocked an RBI single in the third and Will Duff hit a leadoff triple and scored in the seventh before the Bears mounted a comeback.
Missouri State loaded with bases with nobody out in the eighth and Jake McCutcheon cleared them with a pinch-hit double that resulted in two RBI and the third run scoring on an error. The Bears loaded them again when ISU’s Keegan Watson reached over the right field wall to rob Spencer Nivens of the go-ahead grand slam and end MSU’s 21-game home run streak in the process.
ISU added an insurance run in the ninth for the final margin.
Rodriguez, Duff and Mason Greer each collected two hits. Hayden Minton struck out five in 3.1 innings to finish the regular season as the MVC’s strikeout leader with 89.
Game 2 Recap – Indiana State won, 14-4
The Sycamores had two big innings early to lead 7-0 after the fourth and added another four-spot in the ninth for the win.
McCutcheon hit his first career home run in the fourth for a 7-2 game as part of a 2-for-3 day, and Cam Cratic went 2-for-2 to finish the Valley season with a league-best .431 average in conference games.
Taeg Gollert added a solo homer in the fifth and Mason Hull walked and scored in the eighth for MSU’s remaining offense. Gollert’s 11th homer of the year moved his season extra-base hit total to 29, tying Jake Burger’s 2015 total for fourth-best among true freshmen in Missouri State history.
