Going into Friday night’s game against Dallas Baptist, Missouri was hungry for some revenge. The previous evening, the Tigers blew a two-run lead in the eighth inning as DBU claimed victory.
“We let one slip away from us,” Missouri coach Steve Bieser said. “We had some chances to add some runs on throughout the game and we didn’t take advantage when we had that opportunity.”
In the rematch, Dallas Baptist took an early lead and didn’t let anything slip away.
Three Patriot pitchers shut down and shut out the Tigers, leading their team to a resounding 8-0 victory.
Starter Dominic Hamel diced on the mound, striking out 13 Missouri hitters in six innings of work. After his final strikeout of the night, Hamel stomped off the mound and pointed to the Missouri Valley Conference patch on his left sleeve, while screaming toward his dugout.
The junior had his whole team fired up while the Tigers were ice cold through the night. Sophomore Torin Montgomery and redshirt senior Brandt Belk were the only batters able to get a hit against him.
Hamel’s night ended after six innings but the Patriot pitching domination did not.
Missouri could not get a hit off relievers Peyton Sherlin and Luke Trahan. The Tigers did walk five times in the game, totaling seven base runners for the entire evening.
Bieser reshuffled the lineup ahead of Friday’s game. Changes included moving senior Mark Vierling to the leadoff spot while pushing sophomore Joshua Day down into the three-hole. Vierling went 0-4 with two strikeouts and Day was pulled during the fifth inning for freshman Trevor Austin.
Out of the 16 strikeouts, 13 of them were swinging. Many of the final strikes were off the plate, meaning that Hamel, Sherlin and Trahan were able to get Tiger hitters chasing bad pitches.
Sophomore right-hander Spencer Miles faced Hamel. Making his third start of the year, Miles struggled in a similar fashion to his first outing against Grand Canyon. Out of the 83 pitches he threw, only 45 of them were strikes.
Walks once again killed the Tigers, giving up seven free bases. Junior Trae Robertson, who came into relief for Miles, seemed to settle things down. He retired the first 12 batters he faced and struck out six of them.
Robertson then walked three in a row in the ninth, all of which came across later in the inning.
Two plays that really hurt Missouri occurred in the third inning. On a steal attempt of third by DBU second baseman Jace Grady, catcher Mike Coletta’s throw over was wide and got into left field. It allowed Grady to easily meander home, making it 2-0.
A few minutes later, Coletta was unable to control a Miles’ fastball. The ball got away, going all the way back to the backstop, scoring another run. With the little offensive production the Tigers created, DBU put the game far out of reach early.
The loss makes it three in a row dating back to last weekend’s series finale defeat against Omaha. The competition doesn’t get any easier as the Tigers face off against their first Power 5 opponent of the 2021 season, former Big 12 foe Oklahoma.
Despite the losing streak, Bieser remains hopeful for his team.
“We just have to find a way to keep fighting,” Bieser said.
_Edited by Jack Soble | jsoble@themaneater.com_
