Missouri State held Missouri scoreless through three innings Tuesday before the Tigers (24-19) scored in their final five innings to win 11-6…the first Tigers win over the Bears (18-25) in Columbia since 2001.
Missouri State’s Kevin Medrano hit a two-run homer in the third and Curt Courtwright hit a leadoff shot in the fourth before Missouri’s Brett Nicholas tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth with a three-run homer that set off a five-run rally for Mizzou. MU’s Michael Liberto hit a two-run double for the 5-3 lead.
Missouri State came back as Aaron Conway blasted his team-best seventh homer of the year to start the fifth and one-out singles from Keenen Maddox and Tyler Paxson set up Christian Overstreet’s RBI double that tied the game again at 5-5.
Later in the sixth inning, Liberto’s single gave the Tigers a 7-6 lead and runners on the corners with nobody out. Ryan Gebhart added an RBI single and Aaron Senne hit an RBI fielder’s choice before a double play ended the three-run MU inning with the Tigers leading 9-6.
Scott Sommerfeld made it 10-6 with a two-out single in the seventh and the Tigers scored on a wild pitch after loading the bases with no outs in the eighth.