Bears Rally to Take Series Opener at Samford

Season Statistics

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Missouri State overcame a 3-0 deficit after five innings Friday to claim a 4-3 victory in the first of a three-game series with Samford at Joe Lee Griffin Stadium.

Missouri State’s Adam Link retired the first nine Samford (12-11) hitters he faced in a strong start, but the Bulldogs plated a run in the fourth after opening with two singles, then made it 3-0 with a pair of unearned in the fifth.

Mason Greer put the Bears on the board in the sixth with a two-out, two-run single that brought home Walker Jenkins and Drake Baldwin for a 3-2 deficit.

The Bears (13-9) tied it in the seventh after Grant Wood drew a leadoff walk and worked his way to third before scoring the tying run on a Baldwin sacrifice fly.

Then in the ninth, Spencer Nivens hit a leadoff single, got to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on Jenkins’ sac bunt to set up Baldwin’s game-winning sac fly.

Link finished with seven innings, five hits and one earned run without walking a batter before giving way to Trey Ziegenbein (4-2) in a tie game in the eighth.

Ziegenbein retired the first five Bulldogs he faced before a walk and hit batter moved the tying run into scoring position. The senior got Samford to fly out to left field for the final out.

Game two of the series is set for 2 p.m. Saturday.