EVANSVILLE, Ind. – UIC’s Jack Snyder hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the eighth inning Tuesday to give the fifth-seeded Flames the lead and eventually a 9-8 victory over No. 8 Missouri State in the opening game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Braun Stadium.
Missouri State (23-33) starter and two-time first-team all-conference selection Brandt Thompson gave the Bears seven innings and ceded to the bullpen with a 7-4 lead, and the Flames (34-18) took advantage, using a single, walk and two hit batters to push a run across before Snyder launched the first pitch he saw over the fence for a 9-7 lead in the bottom of the eighth.
MVC Player of the Year Kendall Ewell put the Flames on the board with a two-run homer in the first before the Bears struck for a six-run third.
The first seven Bears reached safely in the that inning with runs scoring on a two-run homer from Cody Kelly (13th), RBI hit by pitch from Dylan Leach, RBI walk by Zack Stewart, an RBI ground out by Logan Chambers and a wild pitch. Kelly’s home run was MSU’s 111th on the season, second-most in school history.
The Flames scratched across single runs in the third and sixth frames to close to 6-4 while their bullpen held the Bears without a hit until Nick Rodriguez launched his 13th homer of the season in the seventh inning as part of a 3-for-5 day at the plate while extending his reached base streak to 37 games.
After UIC’s big eighth, Missouri State rallied in the ninth courtesy of a Caden Bogenpohl solo home run for the 9-8 final. His 20th of the season surpassed Ryan Howard’s 1999 total of 19 for the most by a freshman in school history. He also drew three walks to moved to second place on the single-season list, tied with Bill Mueller’s 52 free passes in 1991.
Additionally, Bogenpohl and Stewart (21) are now the first MSU teammates with 20 homers since Jeremy Eierman (23) and Jake Burger (22) in 2017.
The Bears will play an elimination game against either Southern Illinois or Belmont at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
