The Valparaiso University baseball team incurred a 6-1 setback to Missouri State in the finale of a three-game weekend series on Sunday afternoon at Emory G. Bauer Field. The game was halted in the bottom of the seventh due to lightning and rain and deemed an official game after a pair of 30-minute delays.

How It Happened

• Neither team scored over the first two innings, with Valpo starter Griffin McCluskey (Normal, Ill. / Normal Community) working clean frames on the mound. However, the Bears broke through with back-to-back jacks in the third, the first of which was a two-run job.
• Valpo inched back into the game in the bottom of the fourth when Brady Renfro (Antigo, Wis. / Antigo) placed a double down the right-field line to produce an unearned run and make it a 3-1 game.
• In the top of the fifth, Missouri State’s Dakota Kotowski hit his fourth home run of the series, a two-run blast, to expand the gap to 5-1.
• The Bears got one in the sixth to make it 6-1.
• Lightning was detected in the area at 1:50 p.m., so the game went on a 30-minute delay. Play resumed for an additional 12 minutes of action, then lightning struck again, causing another stoppage. At the end of the second delay, the unfavorable forecast for the duration of the game led to the two teams and umpires calling it an official contest.

Inside the Game

• Reliever Jacob Rosenkranz (Lincolnshire, Ill. / Stevenson) worked a scoreless top of the seventh inning, striking out two while yielding no walks and one hit.
• The Beacons were limited to three hits, one apiece by Kaleb Hannahs (West Terre Haute, Ind. / West Vigo), Renfro and Ryan Maka (Oak Forest, Ill. / Oak Forest).
• Renfro’s double was his seventh of the season and the RBI was his 20^th as he became the third Valpo player with 20 RBIs in 2022.

Up Next

Valpo (13-22, 2-7) will visit Purdue on Tuesday at 5 p.m. CT. The game will air on Big Ten Plus.