With Southeastern Conference play looming in the form of a weekend series at Georgia, the Missouri Tigers got a boon to their confidence with a 9-4 victory over Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville on Wednesday night at Taylor Stadium.
“These last two nights will hopefully build our confidence offensively and that’s what we needed,” Missouri coach Tim Jamieson said. “Pitching wasn’t very good tonight but we needed to get better offensively and I think we did.”
Senior Brett Peel, junior Josh Lester and junior Chris Akmon all recorded two RBIs and freshman Brett Bond scored a team-leading three runs. Junior Alec Rash got the start on the hill and scattered six hits over 4.0 innings of two-run ball.
The effort marked a regression for Rash, who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning against Purdue in his last start. Rash earned the win, but drove his ERA from 0.96 up to 2.03.
Rash was the highest-drafted high school player to go to college in 2012, but has struggled at times during his career with the Tigers. He posted a 4.55 ERA over 27.2 innings as a freshman starter and was relegated to a relieving role in his sophomore season. He performed well coming out of the bullpen, recording a 2.04 ERA, but saw his innings total drop to 17.2.
This year, Rash is trying to come right at guys.
“Pitching to contact is definitely important, especially if you want to go deep into a game,” he said. “Trying to strike everyone out is just not something you can do as a starter.”
Mizzou got on the board early when Peel stroked a fastball from SIUE redshirt freshman Brendan Miller into the gap in left center for a 2-run double. With the hit, Peel extended his on-base streak to 14 games. He swiped third base for his SEC-leading 11th steal, but was stranded there.
Peel said a lot of his success on the base paths has to do with timing pitchers to the plate.
“Some pitchers tend to fall into a routine,” he said. “At second base, that’s what it is. Whenever they turn they turn their head towards home plate, I get a little closer to third. I just kind of pick the right time to go.”
With runners on first and second in the top of the fourth, Akmon squared up a pitch from SIUE freshman Caleb Wilkerson and pulled it down the right field line for a two-run double. Jamieson had called for a hit-and-run on the play, so the runners were already in motion when Akmon made contact and scored easily.
Traditionally, the batter is meant to keep the ball on the ground in a hit-and-run situation, but Jamieson was plenty pleased with Akmon’s line drive.
“He did a good job putting the ball in play,” he said. “It was a momentum builder for sure.”
Bond got on base three times in four plate appearances and scored three runs for the Tigers. He drew a walk in his first at-bat and worked several deep counts throughout the game. He said he’s been working on his plate discipline and trying to be “patiently aggressive.”
“I’m just trying to see my pitch and hit it,” Bond said. “If it’s not there I’m going to lay off. I’m just trying to go with my approach and stick to it no matter what.”
If Bond’s team-leading .333 batting average is any evidence, his approach at the plate is paying dividends.
Missouri now looks ahead to a weekend series in Athens, Georgia against the intraconference Bulldogs. Georgia is below Missouri in the SEC East Division standings, but Jamieson said he isn’t taking anything for granted.
“(Georgia’s) a very well coached team,” he said. “You pretty much know what you’re going to get in the SEC: a very well coached team that doesn’t make very many mistakes.”
First pitch of game one of the series is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday.
