After his team’s series win over Kentucky, Missouri coach Steve Bieser answered questions about MU’s upcoming weekend tilt against Louisiana State. So much of an afterthought was the Tigers’ midweek game against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville that it never came up in the seven minutes Bieser spent with reporters. As it turned out, there was never any reason for concern in the game, as Mizzou (23-11-1) scored eight unanswered runs to down SIUE (9-21, 5-10) 10-3.
Freshman Tommy Springer got his second straight Tuesday start, overcoming some early shakiness — allowing two runs in the first inning — to get the win. His final line was two earned runs over five innings with three strikeouts.
“The one thing [Springer] did was that he really competed inside the strike zone,” Bieser said in a press release. “He didn’t have his put away stuff tonight like he’s had in the past, but he didn’t shy away from contact. He stayed strong with it and kept attacking the strike zone.”
After SIUE jumped out to a 2-0 lead on singles from seniors Dustin Woodcock and Peyton Cordova-Smith in the first inning, Missouri evened the score on a Josh Holt Jr. sacrifice fly and bases loaded walk to junior shortstop Chris Cornelius. The Cougars again took the lead the next inning when senior Brock Weimer hit a sac fly of his own to score Woodcock.
In the fourth, junior Kameron Misner put Mizzou back on top with a two-run homer to right field, giving it a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. Junior third baseman Austin James chipped in a two-run shot of his own three batters later to make the score 6-3. Missouri added on in the fifth when Holt doubled and scored on a Cornelius groundout.
With Springer’s day done after five innings, junior Art Joven, sophomore Trey Dillard, freshman Trae Robertson and junior Lukas Veinbergs each pitched scoreless innings to finish the game.
The Tigers scored twice more in the game; first on a Tre Morris triple in the sixth, and a single off the bat of Peter Zimmermann in the seventh.
Missouri will play again this weekend at home against No. 8 LSU.
_Edited by Emily Leiker | eleiker@themaneater.com_