Box Score Box Score | Tournament Central

WICHITA, Kan. – No. 8 Missouri State scored seven runs in the sixth inning en route to an 8-1 win over Wichita State on the second day of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Eck Stadium.

No. 4 seed Wichita State (25-32) will play No. 8 seed Southern Illinois at 12:30 p.m. CDT in an elimination game, while top seed and eighth-ranked Missouri State (43-10) will await the winner of WSU and SIU at 7:30 p.m.

Gunnar Troutwine led the Shockers at the plate by going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Daniel Kihle, Ryan Tinkham and Mikel Mucha each had one hit apiece.

Sam Hilliard got the start on the mound for WSU and went 5.1 innings with five strikeouts, seven walks and four runs allowed. Five other Shockers took the mound in relief appearances with Chandler Sanburn and Jon Ferrendelli each throwing a full inning.

Eric Cheray went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs for MSU and Alex Jefferson went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.

MSU starting pitcher Jon Harris went seven innings, allowing no runs on four hits, while striking out six. Sam Perez and Zach Merciez each threw an inning of relief out of the bullpen to close the game.

Missouri State started the scoring in the bottom half of the first on an RBI single up the middle from Cheray to score Joey Hawkins. The Bears would go on to leave runners stranded on first and second to end the inning.

The Shockers threatened in the top of the fifth when they had runners on the corners and only one out, but Harris got Tinkham to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to keep WSU off the board.

A seven-run sixth inning opened up an 8-0 lead for the Bears. MSU scored via two singles, a double, a triple, a sacrifice fly and a bases loaded walk in the inning. A one-out double to left-center from Jefferson started the scoring and the very next batter, Matt Fultz, tripled to right field to give MSU a 3-0 lead and ending Hilliard's night on the mound. Cheray drove in two with a single to center field and a sac fly from Justin Paulsen ended the scoring.

Troutwine drove in the lone run for WSU with an RBI single to center field in the top of the eighth.