A brutal start to the season left Mizzou eyeing a much-needed home series against the Illinois State Redbirds. As if the start to the season wasn’t bad enough, the Tigers had to move their four-game series to Normal, Ill. due to inclement weather in Columbia.
Steve Beiser’s Tigers wouldn’t let the schedule change phase them as they played their best baseball of the season in three out of four games.
Friday’s series opener began with quite the pitcher’s duel as eight scoreless innings were tossed by both teams.
Redbird starter Cole Johnson pitched a marvelous eight innings, striking out 12 batters while allowing just four baserunners. Mizzou’s Spencer Miles had a career day on the mound himself, with seven scoreless innings and six strikeouts, along with just two hits.
Jacob Kush (1-0) and Shane Wilhelm completed the shutout in the final two innings, with Kush picking up his first win of the season in his 1.1 innings of relief.
This was a pleasant site for a struggling pitching staff that had given up 98 earned runs in the first 13 games, a major reason why they started just 4-9.
Mizzou’s offense finally rewarded its pitching staff in the top of the ninth with a seven-run explosion. Joshua Day’s sacrifice bunt got things going as Mark Vierling scored off an errant throw to go up 1-0. Pinch hitter Jackson Lancaster had an RBI double and Torin Montgomery drove in two runs on his single to give Mizzou a four-run lead. Mike Coletta’s bases-clearing double put the final dent in the Redbirds, as the Tigers won 7-0.
“We messed up a couple times in the middle innings but we were able to bounce back,” Beiser said. “Team got a little momentum off of Kush throwing the ball well in the eighth and carried that into the ninth.”
Scoring in the last inning would prove to be a bad habit for the Tigers in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader, however.
In the first seven-inning game, the Tigers failed to score until the final frame once again. Illinois State’s Jordan Lussier pitched a complete game, giving up only four hits, one walk and one run.
Tiger starter Zach Hise (0-3) had a great three innings to start, but his three runs surrendered in the fourth inning off of two home runs broke the scoreless tie. The bullpen struggled to keep things close in the last three innings, as the Redbirds piled on seven more runs in a 10-1 win. Torin Montgomery’s solo home run in the seventh gave the Tigers their only run of the day.
Game two of Saturday’s doubleheader was the most complete game that Missouri put together all season.
Seth Halvorsen pitched a five-inning gem, striking out seven and allowing one unearned run on two hits. He got help from his offense right out of the gate against Redbirds’ starter Sean Sinisko, who only lasted 2.1 innings after giving up eight hits and six runs.
Tiger batters got 14 hits, drew nine walks and struck out just twice, while scoring double digit runs for the fourth time this season.
“We came out with a little fire in the second game,” Beiser said. “We had swings that were going to produce good results.”
They kept that same fire in the series finale on Sunday to win their first series of the season.
Like Friday night’s game, Mizzou scored the first seven runs of the game. The Redbirds would keep it close all day, battling back with three runs in the fourth and a run in the fifth. Torin Montgomery provided a pair of huge insurance runs in the sixth inning to give the Tigers a 9-4 lead. Illinois State still wouldn’t go away, as they got two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh to make it 9-7.
Montgomery scored on a fielder’s choice in the eighth, and two more runs in the ninth put the game out of reach for the Tigers, who won 12-7.
Montgomery stayed hot with a pair of hits and three RBIs, and Brandt Belk also had a big day with three hits and two RBIs. Spencer Juergens (2-1) picked up the win in his inning of relief of Andrew Vail. Vail went 3.2 innings, allowing just one hit and striking out eight, but walked seven batters. Juergens gave up a run and Lukas Veinbergs gave up two, but Ian Lohse earned an impressive three-inning save to cap off the victory. Lohse walked three but allowed just one hit and an unearned run for his second save of the season.
The second straight game with double-digit runs was enough to move the Tigers to 7-10 on the season as winners of four of their last five. They start conference play on the road at Kentucky on Friday in a three-game series.