After managing to score only four runs in its previous four games, the Missouri baseball team wanted offense — in any form — badly entering Saturday’s matchup with Ball State at Taylor Stadium.
In a 15-5 win over the Cardinals, the Tigers delivered immediately.
In the first inning, the Tigers hit Cardinal pitchers Nestor Bautista and Miles Moeller for five runs, four before the first out. Missouri scrapped its offensive output through a combination of walks, wild pitches and passed balls. The only hit was a bunt by Conner Mach.
“I don’t think we really did anything that inning,” junior outfielder Blake Brown said. “They gave us that one.”
Coach Tim Jamieson was more thankful for the Cardinals’ role in the Tiger offense.
“We haven’t gotten that,” he said. “We haven’t been walked. People haven’t made errors against us. We haven’t had anything created for us, and that’s sometimes what has to happen.”
Missouri kept piling on, notching one run in the second inning and using a long Brown home run to add three in the third and lengthen the lead to 9-0. Brown also had a double and walk on the day.
“I felt really comfortable at the plate,” he said. “I was trying to be calm and steady and just let the game come to me, and I felt like the pitches were easy to see today.”
The Tigers’ final offensive burst came in bottom of the sixth inning, when they fashioned five runs out of three singles, two walks and a hit by pitch to establish a 15-3 advantage. Sophomore Dillon Everett and Landon Lucansky had RBI hits.
Missouri received an excellent pitching performance from Rob Zastryzny. The sophomore southpaw blazed through six innings — 5.1 before allowing a hit — and consistently kept Ball State hitters late on his fastball. He recorded seven strikeouts while allowing three hits for three runs, all in his last inning of work.
“Everything felt really good,” he said. “Usually, I have a good meal before. … Physically, I felt great. (In the) sixth inning, I came out, I felt good, but mentally, I wasn’t in it anymore. Instead of staying on top of it, I let our big lead get to my head.”
Ball State added two more runs off of Brandon Platts in the eighth inning, but they could not make a significant dent in Missouri’s lead.
The 15-run outburst was more than three times the total the Tigers scored in their last four games. The team hopes to carry the momentum into Sunday’s rubber match of the series.
“Finally being able to string a couple of hits and things together and take advantage of walks … it felt great to go out there and do what we know we can,” Brown said.
Zastryzny expressed confidence in the team from a pitcher’s perspective.
“They’re going to come out and play,” he said. “I don’t need to add any pressure to me, just pitch my game and I know they’ll do their thing like they did today.”
Missouri faces Ball State again at 1 p.m. Sunday in the final game of the series. It will be the team’s third game of a 19-game home stand.
