Ninth-inning rallies lead to series sweep against Missouri State

Wichita State kept things interesting at Missouri State over the weekend by making runs late in the games to sweep the three-game series. 

The Shockers won the first game in the series 3-2 after a ninth-inning RBI on a single by Tanner Dearman. Dearman went 3-for-5 in the game with two RBI’s, while Taylor Doggett scored the teams other run, going 3-for-4 in the matchup.

Both teams had strong pitching in the game. Wichita State’s Cale Elam pitched for 6.2 innings allowing only eight hits off 97 pitches with four strikeouts. Nick Petree of Missouri State had a slightly stronger performance in his seven innings, pitched with ten strikeouts and allowing nine hits.

Albert Minnis relieved Elam,  closing the door on Missouri State, allowing one hit off of 32 pitches to seal the win for the Shockers. 

Sunday saw the Shockers and Bears facing off in a doubleheader. 

The first game started strong for WSU, scoring eight runs off ten hits in the first inning. The onslaught started with Tyler Baker getting an RBI on a single. Erik Harbutz then struck out, looking to end the run for WSU. 

Missouri eventually took the lead in the game, scoring a total of nine runs while they held off WSU to the eight they scored in the top of the first. Four of those runs came in the bottom of the fourth inning on RBI’s from Dylan Becker, Koby Peebles, and Joey Hawkins. Becker and Peebles each scored two RBI’s in the comeback. 

After not scoring for eight innings, Harbutz hit a sacrifice fly to right field for an RBI tying the game. Garrett Bayliff and Casey Gillaspie scored unearned runs on an error to give the Shockers a two-point lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Shockers made quick work of the Bears’s offense to hold onto the lead and win 11-9. 

The final game of the series saw a complete turnaround from the first game in the doubleheader. 

The game was very defensive, Wichita State starting pitcher Garrett Brummett throwing for five innings, allowing three hits and no runs on 86 pitches. 

Missouri pitcher Andy Cheray had a great game, allowing only two hits in eight innings on 110 pitches. Unfortunately for Missouri, his stellar pitching wasn’t enough to keep WSU from scoring two runs against him to give him the pitching loss. 

The first run of the game wasn’t scored until the fourth inning. A groundout by Micah Green allowed Gillaspie to score. There were a lot of close calls along the way, but no other runs were scored until the top of the ninth.

Following suit with the previous two games, WSU pulled off one more last inning rally to give them the win over MSU. 

Taylor Doggett earned two RBI’s on bases loaded with a hit to right field that allowed Micah Green and Casey Gillaspie to score and give the Shockers a 3-0 lead. 

The Shockers’ next game will be against the University of Kansas Tuesday night.