Missouri baseball coach Tim Jamieson aptly described his team’s play in a 10-7 victory over North Dakota on Tuesday at Taylor Stadium.
“I’d rather win a game ugly than lose a game pretty,” Jamieson said.
Sloppy play for both teams proved to be the storyline in the first game of the midweek series against the Fighting Sioux.
The Tigers (9-5) started out the day slow, falling behind to North Dakota 3-0 in the early innings. Freshman starter Brett Graves struggled early, hitting three batters in as many innings.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the fourth with two outs that the Tigers responded. The team managed to score four, two of which came from a timely two-run single from junior outfielder Brannon Champagne.
Champagne led the Tigers on offense for the day, going 3-for-4 and bringing in five total RBIs. The five RBIs were the highest individual total this season.
“Today I worked on staying back more and started driving the ball,” Champagne said. “It worked out today for me.”
Senior catcher and captain Ben Turner also contributed a solid outing on both sides of the ball. Defensively, Turner made some nice stops behind the plate, picking off a man at second and making an impressive tag out on a throw from the outfield. With a bat in his hands, Turner managed to make it to base every time he walked to the plate. He finished 3-for-4, scoring three Tiger runs in the process.
“That’s all I’m trying to do when I go up there,” Turner said. “Hitting at the bottom of the order, (I’m) trying to turn the order over, trying to do that and get those guys up so they can drive me in.”
Champagne also recorded the hit of the game. With MU trailing 7-5 at the bottom of the seventh, Champagne flared a line-drive down the third-base line that would bring in three runs and regain the lead. It was the second time the Tigers climbed from behind.
From then on, junior pitcher Jake Walsh took firm control of the game, pitching lights out for the remaining two frames. It marked the sixth save for Walsh, bringing him to half the total for the MU record for saves in a season.
Freshman pitcher John Miles earned the win for the day, marking his first career win wearing a Tiger uniform.
The success on the stat sheet did not necessarily transfer over to the diamond. The game was marred by some porous defense, as both teams hit batters (nine combined) and committed costly errors (three apiece).
“We need to learn from the mistakes we made,” Jamieson said. “We found ways to come back and we figured out a way to win a game that maybe we didn’t deserve to win.”
The Tigers will look to polish up their game when they take on North Dakota again at 6 p.m. Wednesday for the series finale.