Missouri State baseball eliminated from NCAA Tournament after Oklahoma State's historic rally

STILLWATER, Okla. — After holding an early 12-0 lead, Missouri State didn't have the pitching needed to close it out as Oklahoma State chipped away at the Bears' lead and ended their season.

A 29-15 loss to top-seeded Oklahoma State at O'Brate Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma, is where the Bears' season ended. It was the most combined runs scored by two teams in a single game in the history of the NCAA Baseball Tournament.

The 2022 season ended with a 31-29 overall record and the program's 12th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance. The Bears have won one or more games in each of their last nine tournament appearances.

They made the NCAA Tournament thanks to a remarkable run through the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament that earned them the league's automatic bid. The sixth-seeded Bears hit 20 home runs over the six games and won the title when having to play out of a play-in round.

More: Missouri State baseball wanted to return to prominence. The Bears think they succeeded.

A 10-5 loss to Oklahoma State in the opening round of the Stillwater Regional was followed by a comeback against Grand Canyon that will be remembered forever. Down 7-1 heading into the eighth, the Bears rattled off three home runs over the next two innings which included Mason Hull's go-ahead two-run home run down the left-field line to complete the comeback.

Sunday's loss to Oklahoma State, one of the top-ranked teams in the country, allowed the Cowboys to show why they were too overwhelming for the Bears.

Thus ends the 40th season under legendary head coach Keith Guttin who has one year remaining on his current contract. Guttin said following the game that he plans on returning for more seasons as the Bears' coach.

The Bears are expected to lose key contributors including Drake Baldwin, Adam Link and Riyan Rodriguez.

The 2022 season featured an offensive turnaround in which the Bears hit over 100 home runs for the third time in program history.

On Sunday, the Bears exploded in the second inning by putting nine runs on the scoreboard when they previously had started slowly throughout the regional.

With two runners on, Grant Wood doubled them in for the game's first two runs. Will Duff and Spencer Nivens took walks for Drake Baldwin to double them home. Two more walks loaded the bases for Cam Cratic who put a two-out, 0-2 pitch over the right-center field wall for a 9-0 lead. Oklahoma State used three different pitchers to try and get out of the inning.

The Bears followed with three runs in the bottom of the third with Duff hitting a leadoff home run and Baldwin hitting a two-run shot three batters later for a 12-0 lead.

Oklahoma State didn't stay quiet for long as it cut the Bears' lead in half during the top of the fourth. Starting pitcher Ty Buckner was relieved after allowing his first two batters to get on. Riyan Rodriguez couldn't record an out with a walk, single and a hit-by-pitch allowed to the three batters he faced with two runs coming across.

Trey Ziegenbein relieved Rodriguez and allowed four more. Three hits drove in three of the runs and a sacrifice-fly helped make it 12-6 by the end of the frame. The Bears added a run in the bottom half with a Wood solo homer to left-center.

The Cowboys didn't slow down as they dug deeper into the Bears' bullpen. After a sac-fly to bring home a run, Roc Riggio hit a two-run home run. Griffin Doersching later brought home a run with a soft single to right to cut the Bears' lead to three. Caden Wilson replaced Ziegenbein and got the third out of the fifth inning with his first pitch.

Baldwin hit his second home run of the game in the bottom of the fifth but Oklahoma State got the run back on the first pitch of the sixth inning with Nolan McLean's solo shot to make it 14-11.

It wasn't the only run the Cowboys scored with Riggio driving in one with an RBI double. Wilson walked the following two batters to load the bases before Jared Viertel relieved him. On his first pitch, Griffin Doersching put a grand slam over the right-field wall for the 17-14 advantage.

Nivens added a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh to bring the Bears back within two but it didn't stay that close. Oklahoma State added five runs in the top of the eighth to go up by seven.

After holding the Bears scoreless in the bottom of the eighth, the Cowboys tacked on seven more to go from a 12-run deficit to a 14-run lead.

Missouri State couldn't add anything in the bottom of the ninth as its season came to an end.

Oklahoma State finished the game with 26 hits with six different players collecting at least three. Ten of the hits were for extra bases and the Cowboys also walked 17 times.

OSU reliever Trevor Martin threw the final 6 2/3 innings and struck out 16. He allowed three runs on four hits and allowed just one.

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: NCAA Baseball Tournament: Oklahoma State rallies to beat Missouri State