Birthday Slam and Strong Pitching Leads Mizzou Baseball Over Missouri State

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Birthdays typically consist of a variety of celebrations from parties to dinners, but in the case of Missouri redshirt freshman Donovan Jordan, his was spent at Taylor Stadium.

Instead of unleashing a huge grin in front of a stack of presents, Jordan celebrated with a raised hand to left field and an ear-to-ear smile as he joined his teammates at home base.

That celebration came courtesy of Jordan's second home run of the year. Wrapped in the form of a 349-foot deep shot to left field, Jordan gifted the Tigers' with a birthday present to boost them against their in-state rival.

“I can't lie, I feel really great about that,” Jordan said, beaming with joy. “We actually called it today, ‘Birthday bomb wouldn’t be bad’ and I hit it.”

Not only did the three-run homer snap a three-game drought of deep balls, it gave the Tigers a comfortable 5-2 lead that would reflect the final score.

“To get a three-run home run that happened to be the runs that propelled us to a win and it’s your birthday, it doesn’t get any better than that for him,” head coach Kerrick Jackson said.

The home run and the five-run performance from Missouri's bats aided a slow start on the mound that saw the Tigers give up a run in each of the first two innings. With the score knotted at 2-2 and starting pitcher Jackson Sobel pulled in the third inning, the Tigers were in need of a mound revival before the fourth inning.

Following Jordan's big shot, that coincidently fell right in the Tigers' bullpen, Missouri pitching was virtually unstoppable. Junior Keyler Gonzalez pitched six innings, besting his previous season high of 2.1 innings and completely flipped the script for Missouri.

“Pitch by pitch, that’s the mentality,” Gonzalez said after the win, “And it worked.”

After Missouri gave up three hits and four walks in the first three innings, the Gonzalez-led Tigers didn't allow a single run in the final six frames.

Gonzalez was a major factor in holding Missouri State, who ranks top two in Conference USA in batting average and runs, to a tied season-low in runs while allowing just two hits and hurling nine strikeouts.

“That’s what you want your pitchers to do, to throw strikes,” Jackson said. “We’ll always take our chances with pitchers throwing strikes, so to see him do that was outstanding.”

As for Missouri's bats, the team finished with five hits, five walks and three players with at least one RBI. Alongside Jordan, freshman Blaize Ward and graduate Jase Woita each hit RBI singles in the first inning to get Missouri's scoring started.

Missouri will return to SEC action at 7 p.m. Thursday, in the first of a three-game series against South Carolina at Taylor Stadium.

Sign up for our free and follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Blue Sky and Instagram for the latest news.