The Missouri baseball team hosted the No. 6 Texas A&M Aggies on Friday night in a battle between two teams at opposite ends of the Big 12 spectrum. The Aggies came into the game atop the conference standings with a 14-4 mark, while the Tigers stumbled in as cellar dwellers at 4-10.
Missouri flipped the script on Texas A&M, however, topping the Aggies 10-9.
Eric Anderson (0-0, 7.71 ERA) took the mound for his fourth start of the season for Missouri, and was subsequently pounded to the tune of six hits and five runs (four earned) in six innings of work.
It wasn’t all negative for the Tiger sophomore, however. After easing his way back into the rotation following season-ending shoulder surgery in 2010, Anderson made his longest start of the year Friday. The Colorado native threw six innings and 90 pitches, doubling his previous season-high of three innings pitched.
Aggie starter John Stilson (4-1, 1.71 ERA) suffered a similar fate, allowing six earned runs on nine hits in 6.2 innings. After allowing an early first inning run, Stilson started to settle in, blanking the Tigers for the next five frames.
But Missouri’s bats exploded in the 7th inning as the Tigers batted around, producing six hits and seven runs. Jonah Schmidt and Blake Brown both knocked in two runs in the inning, and Ben Turner and Andrew Thigpen both drove in one. By the end of the inning, the Tigers had turned a 6-1 deficit into an 8-6 lead.
The offensive outburst wasn’t enough to put the Aggies away, as Tiger closer Phil McCormick was touched for three hits and three runs in the eighth inning. McCormick was uncharacteristically wild, hitting two Aggies in the frame.
Missouri would not be denied, however. After entering the ninth trailing 9-8, they came up with two runs and walked away, literally, with a 10-9 win. Texas A&M closer Joaquin Hinojosa gave up two straight bases-loaded walks to Eric Garcia and Jonah Schmidt to secure the win for Missouri.
The Tigers will try to make it two straight wins Saturday, as they once again take on the Aggies at 2 PM at Taylor Stadium.
