The Bears were on the prowl over the weekend in Springfield, Mo., and the ISU baseball team was unable to respond.

League-leading Missouri State (27-10, 6-2) proved to be too formidable for the Redbirds, as ISU (20-12, 2-6) dropped both contests and were swept by the Bears at Hammons Field.

“Missouri State is a really good team and we needed to play perfect baseball to win those games, but we just didn’t do that,” ISU head coach Mark Kingston said. “We didn’t pitch well enough, we didn’t get the big hits, and we weren’t as sharp defensively as we have been in the past.”

The originally scheduled three-game series was trimmed down to two when game three was canceled on Sunday due to heavy rain.

MSU 14, ISU 4

After being held scoreless through the first five innings, the Redbirds managed four runs in the sixth and seventh innings, but it was not nearly enough as ISU fell victim to the Missouri Valley Conference’s 10-run rule, succumbing to the Bears 14-4 in eight innings in the first game of the series.

The game was suspended in the top of the sixth on Friday night due to strong storms and the remainder of the contest was played on Saturday.

Bears’ sophomore pitcher Nick Petree picked up the win in 5.1 scoreless innings of work. ISU junior hurler Chris Razo (4-3) pitched five innings and allowed seven runs in the losing effort. Johnson led the Redbirds with a 3-for-4 hitting day.

MSU scratched across five runs in the second inning to take an early 5-0 lead. The Bears added on two more runs in the third, extending their advantage to 7-0.

ISU got on the board in the sixth when Hinshaw reached on a fielder’s choice to score Fallon. However, MSU picked up two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to go up 9-1.

In the seventh inning, the ’Birds plated three runs to cut their deficit to 9-4. Tokarski doubled in Johnson, and Hollenbeck singled to plate Tokarski and Aguilera. But the Bears scored five runs in the seventh and eighth innings to end the game.

MSU 10, ISU 4

MSU jumped in front early with a five-run second inning and did not look back on Saturday afternoon.

Freshman Dylan Craig (4-2) surrendered six runs in five innings on the mound to take the loss, while MSU junior pitcher Cody Schumacher picked up the win with four runs given up in 5.1 innings. Senior right fielder Ty Wiesemeyer headed the ’Birds with a 2-for-5 performance.

ISU scored first on a double play from senior catcher Matt Mirabal, plating senior second baseman Kevin Tokarski, but MSU countered with five runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 5-1 lead. The Redbirds got two runs back in the third on a single by junior first baseman Eric Aguilera to score junior Chad Hinshaw, and sophomore Mike Hollenbeck reached on a fielder’s choice, plating junior third baseman Zac Johnson to cut the deficit to 5-3.

The two squads traded runs, as the Bears scored in the fourth while ISU put a run on the board in the sixth after Hinshaw reached on a fielder’s choice to plate senior David Fallon to keep the score at a two-run MSU lead, 6-4. The Bears scored the last four runs of the contest in the sixth and seventh to win 10-4.

ISU resumes play with a non-conference contest against Illinois Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. in Champaign, Ill., for the second matchup between the two squads this season.