SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri State wasted little time in seizing control of the ninth installment of the 'Battle for Bell' with Drury baseball, as the Bears rode a pair of first-inning home runs to a five-run rally en route to a 14-1 win over the Panthers Thursday evening at Hammons Field.

Caden Bogenpohl delivered a solo shot for a 1-0 MSU lead in the opening moments of the contest, before Curry Sutherland added a three-run shot to right-center to highlight the Bears' key rally.

Drury's Logan Reidelberger recorded a game-high three hits for the Panthers, while Colin McClure drove in the lone DU run with a second-inning double. Joey Funk led the Panthers' mound corps, retiring all three hitters he faced -- including an inning-ending double-play grounder to complete a scoreless sixth inning.

Since its inception in 2012, 'Battle for Bell' has assisted in the fight against Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). A portion of ticket revenue will once again be directed to the Howard Bell CoxHealth ALS Clinic in Springfield, which provides coordinated care and support to ALS patients in the region.
 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Bogenpohl set the tone for the first-inning rally, driving a Kaleb Thomas pitch over the right-field wall for an early MSU tally.
• Following a walk to Taeg Gollert and a Max Knight base hit, Sutherland followed Bogenpohl's lead with a three-run shot of his own to make it a 4-0 contest.
• A walk, a Brant Kragel base hit and a Logan Fyffe sacrifice fly added to the Bears' lead and capped the opening inning offense.
• DU responded in the second with a two-out rally to pull to within 5-1, capitalizing on a leadoff walk to Caleb Briggs on McClure's RBI double to left.
• MSU got the run back in the home half of the second on Knight's two-out, RBI-single, then added three more in the third to extend the margin to eight runs.
• The Bears would go on to score at least once in each of the first five frames, before Funk induced a rally-killing 4-6-3 double-play ball after taking over on the mound with a runner on first and one out in the sixth.
• Funk, a senior left-hander, retired the first two hitters of the seventh as well.
• MSU added a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth to complete the scoring.

NOTABLES

• Reidelberger finished 3-for-4 as the lone Panther to record a multi-hit effort in the contest.
• Knight logged a two-hit night and worked a scoreless inning with two strikeouts on the mound for MSU.
• Bogenpohl added four walks and two additional runs scored following his leadoff homer to cap a strong night.
• Gollert also logged a big performance at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs for the Bears.
• Michael Yuspychuk worked 2 1/3 innings, allowing one run on four hits to start the night for Missouri State.
• Five relievers combined to hold DU scoreless the rest of the way.

#OneDrury