Mizzou baseball had an emphatic start to the season, scoring 34 runs against the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers, the second-most in program history. No, this isn’t football, but the 34 runs earned the team more points than Mizzou football scored in all but one of its Southeastern Conference games last season.
GAME ONE
Mizzou lost game one on Friday night to the Mountaineers 8-5. Javyn Pimentalstarted the game for the Tigers, marking his first start in a year after missing all of last season due to Tommy John surgery. Pimentel lasted five innings, allowing only four hits and one run. Graduate Jase Woita and freshman Blaize Ward led the team with two hits each in the loss.
GAME TWO
Right-handed pitcher Josh McDevitt was the star of game two, allowing just one hit and no runs through a five-inning outing Saturday.
The Tigers got on the board quickly thanks to a Ward groundout that scored Tyler Macon in the first inning. From there, the team went on to score four more runs and pull out a 5-4 victory to tie the series 1-1.
GAME THREE
Sunday was a record-breaking day as Mizzou eviscerated the Mountaineers 34-3, the second-most runs scored in program history. The offense got rolling in the second inning, dropping five runs. After exposing Mount St. Mary’s shaky pitching, the Tigers proceeded to score 13 more runs in the third inning to jump out to an 18-3 lead.
Sophomore Brady Kehlenbrink got the win on the mound for Mizzou, pitching five innings and giving up three runs, all of which came in the first. Those three runs ended up being the only runs the Mountaineers scored all day.
Sophomore Tyler Macon led Mizzou offensively with six hits and eight RBIs in six plate appearances. With such a large lead, head coach Kerrick Jackson was able to test the team’s depth, a large problem last season.
Fifteen Tigers stepped into the batter’s box, with 11 of them tallying base hits. Mizzou recorded three home runs, all from different hitters: Woita, Sam Parker and Chris Patterson.
The Tigers finished with a final score of 34-3 to win the game and the series. Mizzou’s next matchup will be on the road against Florida Atlantic University on Feb. 17, in Boca Raton, Florida.
