Missouri Baseball's Bats Came Alive in a 12-8 Win Over Cal Poly
The bats were fairly silent for the two teams through both games of the Friday doubleheader. They were not for the third game of the series on Saturday.
Neither team seemed to want to give up the lead for the first couple innings, but Missouri was able to run away with it in the fourth. The Tigers maintained the lead through the last five innings, and held on for the 12-8 victory despite a comeback attempt by Cal Poly in the seventh.
A little more than 12 hours after the Tigers concluded their doubleheader, they took the field once more. Despite the efforts to get the game in before the rain came in San Luis Obispo, they were not successful. Scenes of rain falling, drying bats off on pants and the ball skidding over water made up the first half of the game.
Missouri was in deep water with the rain. The slip-ups and poor play with the wet conditions brought their defensive struggle from last night over and put them behind early in the game. A wild pitch advanced Cal Poly's Joe Yorke to second in the first inning and an error on the relay to try to catch Yorke at home forced the ball into the backstop as he crossed the plate. Third baseman Justin Colon watched a ball die in the wet fields marking the second error of the game and allowing designated hitter Evan Cloyd to cross the plate, as well.
Fortunately for the Tigers, they weren't the only ones in the battle against the rain. Redshirt freshman Tucker Moore and true-freshman Thomas Curry tag-teamed on back to back hits to help the Tigers tie the game with the help of a fielding error on Moore's hit. A groundout from Danny Corona gave the Tigers the lead.
The score was already higher than either game in just the third inning of the Saturday morning game and the Tigers had more runs after the sixth inning than both teams in all of yesterday. The bats seemed to get even louder after the rain stopped and Missouri was able to clean up their defense, limiting their errors to the first couple innings.
Cal Poly put up five hits and two runs in the bottom of the third and Missouri put up five runs in a chaotic fourth inning for Cal Poly. They passed the hit total for both games combined in the sixth inning. The Tigers racked up more extra base hits than singles with seven in their offensive show. Despite being out hit by the Mustangs, Missouri was able to stay in front for a majority of the game.
The pitching changes didn't go well for either team. Both decided to give their freshmen a chance in relief, all making their collegiate debuts. Right-hander Ethan Marmie plunked three Tigers and sent a wild pitch past their All-American catcher Ryan Stafford in just six pitches, allowing Missouri to score twice with no hits. They went back to their bullpen for Caden Pearlman, only for him to give up a walk and back-to-back singles to score three more in his first half inning, then hit a batsman and allowed a hit in his second. The third and fourth trips to the bullpen put up one run each.
It wasn't until Cal Poly's fifth call to the bullpen to grab another freshman in Griffin Naess that they were finally able to shut down the Tigers offense, but only for two innings before Missouri first baseman Jackson Lovich sent a goner out of the park. That resulted in the sixth freshman replacement pitcher for Cal Poly, Josh Volmerding.
Missouri went with right-hander Charlie Miller who gave back two runs on three hits. The Tigers' second trip brought out southpaw Daniel Wissler, who was able to put up two scoreless innings before he gave up a two-run double to Alejandro Garza with bases loaded. He continued to struggle in the eighth before he was replaced by right hander Brock Lucas to close the game.
Missouri's youth wasn't the problem in the last couple games — for the most part. Four freshmen started over the last three games and showed what they were made of. Freshman Mateo Serna earned a double and Curry made a sliding grab into the foul wall to cut an at-bat short, to go along with his game-winning two-run homer from yesterday. Sophomore first baseman Jackson Lovich was able to apply an impressive tag with an errant throw and smack a homer over the far left wall. It was Jeric Curtis that started the Tigers offense with a leadoff double and ended the game a homer away from the cycle, however.
Two of the four errors charged to the Tigers over the last three games were committed by freshmen Drew Culbertson and Lovich. But that doesn't reflect the messy fielding from the Tiger's that weren't quite errors but definitely needs to be cleaned up before they get too far into the season.
The final game of the series has been cancelled due to inclement weather, helping Missouri earn their first series win in the Kerrick Jackson era. Missouri is back in action against CSU Bakersfield as part of the Tony Gwynn Legacy series in San Diego, California on Thursday, Feb. 22
