Brock Daniels’ go-ahead double in the tenth inning secured the Tigers’ win over their border rivals
It took an extra inning, but Missouri baseball extended their winning streak over Kansas on March 12 with a 5-4 victory at Hoglund Ballpark.
Sophomore designated hitter Brock Daniels was the hero for the Tigers as his go-ahead double in the top of the tenth inning put Missouri ahead for good.
Sophomore pitcher Daniel Wissler was tabbed as the starter for this one, making his third start of the season. He was matched up with Kansas junior pitcher Evan Shaw.
In the first inning, both teams got a runner on base. Sophomore first baseman Jackson Lovich walked, and Kansas senior center fielder John Nett doubled. Neither team was able to cap it off with a run.
Missouri got a runner into scoring position in the second inning. Daniels bunted for a single and then stole second, both occurring with two outs. But a ground-out by junior catcher Jedier Hernandez ended the scoring chance for the Tigers.
Kansas was able to break the scoreless tie in the bottom of the second. With a runner on base after a leadoff walk, senior second baseman Collier Cranford turned on the first pitch of his at-bat and sent it 393 feet for his second home run of the season. The blast put the Jayhawks ahead 2-0 after two innings.
Half an inning later, Missouri responded with three runs of their own. Sophomore center fielder Jeric Curtis and graduate shortstop Matt Garcia led off the inning with back-to-back singles,and senior second baseman Trevor Austin walked to load the bases with nobody out.
Lovich then grounded into a double play which Curtis scored on. With two outs, sophomore right fielder Jackson Beaman and redshirt freshman left fielder Tucker Moore hit back-to-back RBIs to put the Tigers in front 3-2.
The Jayhawks didn’t respond in the bottom of the third, as Missouri turned in a double play to end the inning.
After a scoreless fourth and top of the fifth, head coach Kerrick Jackson would go to the bullpen for the bottom of the fifth. He turned to freshman pitcher Charlie Miller, who had one of the best outings of his early career. Miller got through two scoreless innings without allowing a hit, while also striking out two Jayhawk batters.
With the score still being 3-2 in favor of Missouri, Jackson gave the seventh inning to senior southpaw Ian Lohse. Lohse struck out his first batter but then gave up a double to Kansas’s Cranford. He escaped the danger with another strikeout before forcing a flyout to end the inning.
Sophomore Brock Lucas came in to close the win for Missouri, but the Jayhawks had other plans. After Lucas forced a groundout to open the inning, Nett ripped his second double of the game. He was driven in a batter later by sophomore first baseman Kodey Shojinaga. Lucas was able to get two more outs, but the game was tied after eight innings.
Both teams threatened in the ninth with runners in scoring position, but neither team was able to get the upper hand, sending the game to extra innings.
Beaman and junior third baseman Justin Colon both walked to start the top of the tenth, setting up Daniels for the biggest moment of the game. With one out, he drove a pitch to the opposite field for an RBI ground-rule double, putting the Tigers up 4-3. Colon then scored on a wild pitch during the next at-bat.
Down 5-3 in the bottom of the tenth, the Jayhawks weren’t quite finished. Graduate pitcher Ben Pedersen was tasked with picking up the save for Missouri, and he started out on a bad note by letting up a leadoff single.
He bounced back by striking out the next batter but allowed senior catcher Jake English to hit a double. With runners on second and third base, redshirt junior third baseman Michael Brooks hit a sacrifice fly to make it a one-run game. Pedersen walked Cranford, giving the Jayhawks runners at the corners with two outs.
With a full count to junior catcher Ben Hartl, Pedersen caught him looking at strike three to secure Missouri’s fourth straight win against their border rivals.
The win brings the Tigers’ overall record to 9-8.
Edited by Michael Stamps | mstamps@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Sterling Sewell | ssewell@themaneater.com Edited by Genevieve Smith | gsmith@themaneater.com