Missouri baseball concluded its midweek slate of matchups with a 7-6 home victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts on Wednesday afternoon at Taylor Stadium. The victory extended the Tigers’ win streak to 12 games.
Junior catcher and offensive leader Brett Bond opened the scoring for the Tigers. With two outs, he lined an offering from Catamounts starter Dillon Bray deep over the center field wall for his fifth home run of the season.
Redshirt sophomore Liam Carter got the start for the Tigers. He would be removed after just an inning of work and loading the bases with no outs in the top of the second.
The Catamounts continued their offensive advances throughout the game, but each time they scored, the Tigers responded with a run of their own to aid the comeback effort, highlighted by freshman Chris Cornelius’ RBI double in the sixth to tie the game at five.
After falling behind again, junior Trey Harris responded for the Tigers, launching a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game at six. The blast ascended high into the sky and plunked off a field goal post on the practice field to the left of Taylor Stadium.
TJ Sikkema was sharp in relief for the Tigers once again. The freshman extended his scoreless innings streak to 18.2, picking up six strikeouts and allowing just a single base hit over his 3.2 innings to earn the win.
Nine innings was not enough, as the Tigers and Catamounts would head to extra innings deadlocked at six.
“It was a game of ups and downs. We had some good moments and some bad moments. The resiliency of them bouncing back every time something goes wrong. We had to play from behind a lot,” head coach Steve Bieser said after the game.
After Western Carolina went in order at the top of the tenth, the Tigers came to bat with a chance to win it. Sophomore first baseman Brian Sharp led off with a double. After a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk, junior transfer Robbie Glendinning came to the plate and delivered, shooting an RBI single into right field that gave the Tigers the 7-6 victory.
Glendinning, playing in his first year as a Tiger, is a transfer from Northern Iowa Community College.
“As a competitor you want to be in that situation. I figured the pressure was on him [the pitcher], so I just tried to get a good pitch to hit,” Glendinning said about his walk-off hit.
Glendinning has been instrumental in recent victories that have made up the twelve-game winning streak. He hit a home run in Tuesday’s win, and followed it up with the game-winning hit against Western Carolina.
“Everyone has been doing their job and we’ve just been consistent,” Glendinning said.
The Tigers will look to continue their success at home when they host the Appalachian State Mountaineers this weekend, starting with game one on Friday at Taylor Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM.
_Edited by Eli Lederman | elederman@themaneater.com_
