After winning its opening series against Nicholls State, Missouri baseball traveled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana looking to stay hot.
The Tigers continued their road trip on Wednesday night against Southern University. The Jaguars hoped to put on a good showing in front of its first home crowd of the season, but after taking a 3-1 in the second inning, it was all Missouri the rest of the way.
The Tigers got on the scoreboard quickly after a sacrifice fly from junior first baseman Torin Montgomery that sent senior shortstop Josh Day home in the top of the first inning, but the Jaguars responded quickly.
Missouri senior pitcher Drew Garrett started for Missouri but only pitched one inning. He walked two batters, allowed two hits and gave up two runs in his lone inning on the mound. Garrett struggled to find the strike-zone, so Missouri head coach Steve Bieser went to his bullpen early.
The next pitcher up for the Tigers was redshirt sophomore Brenner Maloney. Maloney pitched for two-thirds of an inning, walking two batters and striking-out two. Southern scored on an error, and Missouri took Maloney out after less than a full inning pitched.
It wasn’t looking great for the Tigers at first. The lackluster pitching forced them to bring in their third pitcher within the first two innings. This time, junior Nathan Landry got an opportunity, and it did not take much time for him to take over the ballgame.
Landry finished the second inning and added four more full innings for Missouri. He allowed just two hits and one run while striking-out 10 batters and walking zero.
Landry’s presence seemed to give a boost to the rest of the team as runs immediately started coming. The Tigers scored four runs in the third inning on Josh Day’s two-run homer and sophomore infielder Garrett Rice’s two-run double.
The Tigers did not score again until the fifth inning where they scored four runs. This time it was Rice’s RBI single and freshman outfielder Carlos Peña’s three-run shot that got it done for Missouri.
Missouri and Southern traded runs for the rest of the game, but the Tigers really put the Jaguars away with their seven-run ninth inning. Southern walked-in two Missouri runs with the bases loaded and junior catcher Garrison Bennet added an RBI single, which kept the bases loaded for freshman catcher Shea McGahan. McGahan took advantage and launched a grand slam into left field for the Tigers’ final four runs of the game.
Sophomore Holden Phelps and redshirt sophomore Kyle Potthoff pitched the last three innings of the game for Missouri. Phelps pitched the seventh inning, struck-out the side and sat back down. Potthoff pitched the final two innings and struck out four batters, bringing the team strikeout total to 20, which tied a 59-year-old team record first set in 1963 against Colorado.
The bats stayed hot for Missouri’s offense, which came into the game averaging 10.25 runs per game.
Edited by Brandon Haynes | bhaynes@themaneater.com
