Ashley Dickerson
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Missouri Valley Conference's second-seeded Indiana State Baseball (34-20, 13-8 MVC) fell behind the seventh-seeded Missouri State Bears (35-19, 7-13 MVC) early on, and would not catch up, as they would drop the MVC tournament opener by a final score of 12-4.
Indiana State started out strong, as freshman Tyler Ward dominated on the mound, retiring five Bears in-a-row, before the Bears caught a little fire in the second inning when they strung a few hits together to plate three early runs.
The Sycamores cut into the Bears' lead, as they answered with a run in the bottom of the third. Senior Andrew Gutierrez drew a leadoff walk. and was sacrificed to second by senior All-MVC selection, Andy DeJesus. With Gutierrez in scoring position, junior Hunter Owen, another First Team All-MVC selection, singled to right center, plating the Sycamores' first run.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Sycamores put up another run, as junior Tony Rosselli and sophomore Tyler Friis hit back-to-back singles, before sophomore Dane Tofteland hit into a fielder's choice to cut the Bears' lead to one run.
Trailing by just one run, the Sycamores allowed back-to-back Missouri State home runs in the top of the fifth inning, and would fall behind, 5-2.
The Bears struck again in the top of the sixth, scoring three runs on three hits to go ahead of the Sycamores, 8-2.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Sycamores would heat up as junior Tony Rosselli crushed his ninth homer of the season to cut the Bears' lead in half, 8-4.
The Sycamores' run would not last long as the Bears kept notching away at the scoreboard, scoring three runs in the top of the eighth on two hits to widen the margin, 11-4.
The Bears' offense kept themselves alive in the top of the ninth, as they would summon another run, gaining the12-4 advantage.
Missouri State's closer, and the MVC's most recent Pitcher of the Week, Sam Perez, tossed two and two-thirds shutout innings to advance the Bears to day two with a first round win.
The Sycamores struggled to get the bats going, as they would be out-hit 15 to five. Rosselli finished as the only Sycamore to collect multiple hits, as he had two of the teams' five, knocking in two runs with his ninth home run of the season in the sixth inning.
Indiana State will return to Bob Warn Field on Thursday, May 26, as they will face sixth-seeded Wichita State in an elimination game at 12:30 p.m. ET. Be sure to follow the Sycamores on Twitter and Facebook for updates, and check out all tournament games on The Valley on ESPN3.
