Missouri baseball has found a winning formula early this season, and it’s sticking to it.

The Tigers used situational hitting and bend-don’t-break pitching Sunday afternoon, coasting to a 5-0 victory and series sweep of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Retrievers at Taylor Stadium in Columbia. The win moved Missouri to 10-3 on the season.

Head coach Steve Bieser said the win was a confidence booster for his team.

“It’s hard to sweep a series … so just being able to come out on a Sunday and play a complete game, take the lead and never look back was important for us,” Bieser said.

Junior third baseman and do-it-all player Brian Sharp continued his hot start, reaching base twice on a hit-by-pitch and three-run homer in the fifth inning. Sharp, who also pitches for Missouri, entered the contest hitting .486. He hit his third home run of the season when he drove a 2-2 breaking ball from Retriever starter Chase Bailey the opposite way into the Tigers’ bullpen in left field to give Missouri some separation.

Sharp said he was trying to hang tight in his at-bat when he hit his home run.

“There were two strikes, and I was just trying to compete and get a pitch I could drive,” Sharp said. “He ended up throwing a breaking ball and I got the barrel [of the bat] to it, so it was good.”

Bieser said Sharp has had a good approach at the plate thus far this season.

“He’s had a really good week again,” Bieser said. “I don’t think any of us over think it, but he’s a good athlete and a good player.”

While Sharp was the star offensively, it was Missouri’s starting pitching that made the team’s fifth consecutive win an easy one. The team got a strong start from senior right hander Andy Toelken, who went 6 1/3 innings, scattering six hits and striking out five while walking one without surrendering a run.

Toelken entered the contest having given up nine earned runs in his first 8 1/3 innings of work this season but maintained his composure on Sunday. His breaking ball was working especially well, helping him get Retrievers hitters to chase out of the zone, especially when he needed to get out of a jam.

Toelken said he was pressing in his previous two starts but was able to stay calm in his start on Sunday.

“I really just tried to attack the zone today and attack with all three pitches,” Toelken said. “The past two starts in Florida, being back home, [I was] probably trying to do too much and getting in my head a lot. Today, I just tried to go out there and get one out at a time, one inning at a time and let it pile up.”

Bieser said Toelken’s bounce-back performance was one he can build off of.

“I’ve seen Andy throw better, but it’s a step in the right direction,” Bieser said. “It’s what we needed him to do today.”

Toelken was lifted in the seventh inning for freshman left-hander Ian Bedell, who was nothing short of masterful out of the bullpen. The Davenport, Iowa, native got a strike out and a ground out in the seventh while stranding Toelken’s final base runner at second, two strikeouts and a groundout in the eighth, and a strikeout and a ground out in the ninth. His 2 2/3 innings of perfect work were good enough for his first save of his career.

Bieser said he was pleased with his team’s performance on the rubber.

“I thought our pitching staff was phenomenal today,” Bieser said. “I liked the tempo and the way they attacked the game itself. They just found a way to pitch around [trouble] and make great pitches whenever they needed to make their pitches.”

Next up, Missouri will play Eastern Illinois University on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in Columbia.

_Edited by Bennett Durando | bdurando@themaneater.com_