The Missouri baseball team’s 5-2 loss to Ball State was not quite the ideal home opener it had in mind.
Squaring off against the Ball State Cardinals, the Tigers were looking to take their minds off a disappointing three-loss stretch by taking home a victory. Unfortunately, Ball State pitcher Cal Bowling was not so kind. Bowling pitched a complete game, holding the Tigers to only two runs on five hits.
The game’s scoring kicked off at the top of the second inning. With two outs, Ball State catcher Kevin Franchetti kicked off a successful inning for the Cardinals with a single to the right. Ball State would tally another single, and with two men on base, centerfielder Wes Winkle recorded the first hit of his season, driving in Franchetti for the go-ahead run. The Cardinals would add another run to the board before Missouri’s junior Eric Anderson was able to escape the inning.
The Tigers responded quickly, though, tying the game at two apiece with Landon Lucansky’s triple.
Then, the Cardinals began to pull away. Leftfielder Kirby Campbell smashed a home run over the center field wall, regaining the lead. It was a lead they would not relinquish, as Bowling’s pitching would keep the Tigers in check offensively the rest of the way.
“They hit that home run and the response just all the way just wasn’t what we needed it to be,” pitcher Ben Turner said. “The pitching staff did a good job throwing strikes. (They) didn’t walk a lot of guys, and (they) didn’t put anybody on base, but sometimes that happens and we have to pick them up offensively.”
The Tigers have now lost four straight, similar to their slow start out of the gates last season. Coach Tim Jamieson said the team’s selfish mentality has dictated its play on the field.
“We’ve got too many guys worrying about their numbers, their slow starts,” Jamieson said. “They’re starting to take them out into the field with them. We’ve got guys who are too worried about their individual numbers and are not worried about our ballclub.”
The loss will go down as Anderson’s third of the season. Perhaps betraying his solid pitching performances, Anderson has yet to record a win. Despite the lack of results, Anderson will continue to perform at a high level, Turner said.
“We need to pick him up offensively, but he’s not a guy that looks at the numbers,” Turner said. “He goes out there every Friday night to do his job the best he can and hopefully put us in a place to win.”
The home-opening loss drops the Tigers to a record of 2-5 on the season. The Tigers will look to wake their bats up in game two of the three-game series with Ball State at 2 p.m. Saturday at Taylor Stadium.
