Sophomore righty Pierce Johnson tossed seven shutout innings and Missouri State stole a season-high seven bases Tuesday at Hammons Field on the way to a 5-0 victory and season sweep of in-state baseball rival Missouri.
Johnson (4-4) retired 14 Tigers (19-26) in a row from the second to sixth innings, scattered four hits and struck out eight against no walks for his fourth win of the season. Only one batter advanced beyond first base against the Arvada, Colo., native. Jake Powers and Dan Kickham finished off the shutout with a scoreless inning each.
Aaron Conway hit a leadoff triple in the first and scored on Kevin Medrano’s ground out for the only run the Bears (25-17) would need. Conway’s triple was the 15th of his career, tying him with Evan Pratte, now the Director of Baseball Operations for Mizzou, for third in school history.
Conway and Medrano struck again for two steals apiece in the third to push the lead to 3-0. Conway hit a one-out single and stole his way to third before scoring on Medrano’s single, and Medrano swiped two bags and came home on a Spiker Helms sacrifice fly.
Missouri gifted the Bears a run in the fourth, dropping a fly ball for the third out before Brett Marshall sent the next pitch into the left field corner for a double that scored Travis McComack from first. Brent Seifert then led off the eighth with his ninth homer of the year, a line drive that exited the stadium over the bullpen in left.
Derek Mattea added two steals and Patrick Drake had another to account for MSU’s final total of seven.
Story courtesy of Missouri State Athletics.
