Missouri baseball picked up its first Southeastern Conference series victory over the weekend. The Tigers took two of three games against the South Carolina Gamecocks. After dropping the series opener 4-1, the Tigers responded with a thrilling come-from-behind 8-7 victory on Saturday and closed out the series with a 10-3 win on Sunday. Missouri head coach Steve Bieser expressed pride with the way his team fought over the weekend.
“The guys just kept coming and coming and getting better each inning and really kind of stayed the course,” Beiser said. “[I am] so proud of the way they responded all weekend long.”
There is plenty to take away from these three days of baseball, but here are four observations.
Fox Leum makes his presence felt in both Tiger victories
In Saturday’s 8-7 victory, graduate infielder Fox Leum’s solo home run in the second inning was the start of a sensational weekend the Excelsior, Minnesota native had. With the Tigers trailing 5-2 in the eighth inning, Leum struck again with a two-run single down the right field line, making it a one run game. Junior infielder Nander De Sedas built off the momentum with a 3-run home run to regain the lead for the Tigers.
Leum followed Saturday with another impactful performance on Sunday, going 3-4 with three RBIs. In his two appearances against the Gamecocks, Leum batted .750 (6-8) with six RBIs. This weekend increased his RBI total to 12 in just 39 plate appearances.
Spencer Miles and Austin Marozas shine over the weekend
The Tigers fell 4-1 to the Gamecocks on Friday, but pitching was not the issue. Junior right handed pitcher Spencer Miles completed 7.2 innings, allowing six hits while striking out five. Bieser had no issues with the Columbia native’s pitching in game one.
“That’s the way that we need to pitch every Friday night,” Beiser said. “If he can go through and keep that team within four runs, we need to be able to do that offensively [and] be able to score enough runs to not make him the loser in a ballgame like that.”
The bats on both sides came alive on Saturday, but the Tigers held the Gamecocks to just 3 runs Sunday. Junior right handed pitcher Austin Marozas struck out a career-high 10 batters over 6.2 innings while giving up two hits.
“The sinker ball guys, sometimes they have a little issue settling in early because they’ve got good velocity. Once he started kind of wearing down a little bit, really getting that ball to the bottom of the zone and using his three-pitch mix, that was pretty special,” Beiser said.
A former Tiger made a bittersweet homecoming
Former Tiger fifth year senior Brandt Belk made his return to Columbia, Missouri after spending the past two seasons with Missouri. In a COVID shortened 2020 season, Belk led the Tigers with a .457 batting average. In 2021, Belk finished third on the team in hits (44) and totaled a .273 batting average. Belk made his presence felt over the weekend. A two-run RBI double tied the game at 7-7 in game two keeping the Gamecocks alive. In the three game series, Belk finished 4-12 with four RBIs.
The SEC is a tough conference
Missouri currently stands at 17-8 and 3-6 in SEC play. This is good enough for fourth place in the SEC East. South Carolina sits at the bottom of the division with a 13-14 record but claims series victories over the No. 7 Texas Longhorns and the No. 16 Vanderbilt Commodores. In the SEC, 13 of 14 teams currently possess above .500 records and six teams in the conference rank in the top 25.
If the Tigers want to make a regional in the NCAA tournament, they are going to need more weekends like this past one with 21 of their 26 remaining games coming against SEC foes.
Edited by Brandon Haynes | bhaynes@themaneater.com
