SPRINGFIELD – Visiting Murray State out-scored Missouri State 9-2 after the fifth inning Saturday to rally for a 12-11 series-clinching victory in 10 innings at Hammons Field.
The Racers (30-18, 11-10 Missouri Valley Conference) forced extra innings with a three-run ninth and scored three more in the 10th to secure the win.
The Bears (18-29, 8-13) got a strong start from Kaleb Thomas, who retired 14 of the first 15 batters he faced, sans a solo homer in the second, and finished with career highs of eight strikeouts and five innings.
Missouri State led 4-1 in the second when Dylan Leach led off with a homer and Tyler Epstein added a three-run shot on the way to tying his career high with five RBI.
Nick Rodriguez hit a solo homer in the third to extend his streak of reaching safely to 28 games, and Cody Kelly was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Taeg Gollert added an RBI single in the fourth to make it 7-1.
The Racers scored two in the fifth following a wild pitch on strike three of what would have been the final out, but MoState responded with a two-run Epstein single in the bottom half for 9-3.
Murray State chipped away with a two-out RBI single in the sixth and two solo homers in the seventh before plating three runs in the ninth after loading the bases with one out.
Missouri State stranded the winning run on second in the ninth, the Racers got a three-run homer in the 10th, and the Bears rallied in the home half with two walks, a Gollert RBI single and Rodriguez sacrifice fly to make it 12-11. The game ended with the tying run on first base.
The Bears hit the road for a 6 p.m. Tuesday at SEMO. MoState beat the Redhawks 10-3 on April 2 in Springfield.
