WATERLOO - The University of Northern Iowa's Brandon Douglas and Brett Featherston each hit solo home runs in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too little too late in a 12-2 loss to Missouri State Thursday night at Riverfront Stadium. The loss guarantees the Panthers (28-21, 13-9) the fourth seed in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

Missouri State (37-14, 17-5) starter Tim Clubb gave up just two hits and did not allow a run through eight innings, improving to 10-0 with the win. Guido Fonseca (8-2) struck out eight in 6.1 innings, giving up seven runs on five hits.

Missouri State put the Panthers in a hole early. With two on and two out, Chris Playter hit a home run over the wall in left center to give the Bears a 3-0 lead in the top of the first.

MSU tacked on a run in the top of the fifth after Brayden Drake hit a one-out double into right center. He moved to third on a fly out and scored on a wild pitch to give the Bears a 4-0 advantage.

Ben Woodbury led off the top of the seventh by reaching on an error, and he moved to second on a failed pick off attempt. Drake singled into left, and Ben Carlson hit his 15th home run of the season to extend the MSU lead to 7-0.

The Bears used a leadoff walk, consecutive singles and a sacrifice fly to add a pair of runs in the top of the eighth to extend their lead to 9-0.

MSU used singles from Mazzola and Ryan Mantle and back-to-back doubles from Ben Woodbury and Nolan Keane to tack on three more runs in the top of the ninth, giving the Bears a 12-0 lead.

Douglas led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo home run to center, his 10th of the season. It was also his fourth straight game with a home run. Featherston boosted his home run total to 10 on the season with a solo home run to left, making the score 12-2. Douglas and Featherston become the first Panthers to hit 10 or more home runs in a season since Adam Boeve hit 18 in 2003.

UNI's four hits are the fewest by the Panthers since collecting two in a 2-1 win over Northwestern on March 21.

The Panthers and Bears play game two of the three-game series today at 6:30 p.m.