The Valparaiso University baseball team fell 9-6 to Missouri State on a windy Sunday afternoon at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo. Matt Olive (Minneapolis, Minn. / Blake School) continued to swing a hot stick as he cracked two extra-base hits including a solo home run and drove in three, while Ryan Maka (Oak Forest, Ill. / Oak Forest) continued a recent offensive surge of his own with three hits.

How It Happened

• Valpo grabbed an early lead when Maka went to the opposite field with a double to left to plate a two-out run in the opening frame.
• Missouri State scored five times in the second including a two-run homer by Spencer Nivens to take a 5-1 lead.
• The Bears scored twice more in the fourth – an inning that started with two outs and the bases clear – to increase the lead to six at 7-1.
• Righty Josh Cottrill (Pewaukee, Wis. / Pewaukee) came into the game in the fifth inning and put up a zero despite pitching around a two-out error. A soft two-out single to the right side of the infield allowed Missouri State to tack on a run in the sixth, extending the lead to 8-1.
• An opposite field home run by Olive in the seventh reduced the lead to six at 8-2. The Beacons could have had more in that inning, but a sprawling catch in right field took away a hit.
• Missouri State added a solo shot in the seventh to make it 9-2.
• Olive notched his second extra-base hit in as many innings with a two-out double to plate a run in the bottom of the eighth. The frame continued when Alex Thurston (Fowler, Ind. / Benton Central) ripped a single to the left side of the infield to score another and close the gap to five at 9-4.
• Lefty Christian Hack (Oak Forest, Ill. / Tinley Park) pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth for the Beacons.
• A run-scoring single by Maka in the top of the ninth cut the lead to four at 9-5. The Bears made a ninth-inning pitching change and Valpo then moved a step closer when an Olive walk forced in a run to make it 9-6. Missouri State then escaped as Valpo stranded the potential tying run at first.

Inside the Game

• Olive notched his sixth multi-hit game of the season in just 16 contests. In six games since returning from a hamstring injury, he has recorded three multi-hit outputs, has a hit in all six games and has three home runs.
• Olive had his third double and fifth home run of the season.
• Maka’s three-hit game represented his fifth of the season and his 11^th multi-hit output.
• This was Maka’s fifth multi-hit game in his last six outings including three three-hit contests during that stretch.
• Kyle Schmack (Wanatah, Ind. / South Central) reached base four times, all via the base on balls. He became the first Valpo player to work four walks in a game since Spencer Mahoney on April 2, 2014 vs. Northern Illinois.

Up Next

Valpo (16-19, 7-11) will visit Western Michigan on Tuesday at 2 p.m. CT.  Links to live audio and stats will be available on ValpoAthletics.com.