Missouri baseball (4-2) went 2-1 on the weekend, beating both University of Utah (3-4) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1-5) at the Kleberg Bank College Classic.
The Tigers started off the weekend with a loss on Friday, Feb. 21, dropping the opener to Kansas State University (3-4) 5-1. Junior Ian Bedell pitched six innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits, no walks and five strikeouts.
“One thing we know is every time Ian steps onto the mound, we’re going to have a chance to win the ballgame,” coach Steve Bieser said. “His first outing he was super sharp. Today, I thought he was very good.”
Missouri’s offense was unable to match Kansas State’s five runs, posting only one run of their own in the sixth inning.
The Tigers only put up four hits against the Wildcats’ nine, with junior Chad McDaniel producing two of them and junior Mark Vierling and redshirt junior Brandt Belk contributing one hit each.
On Saturday, Feb. 22, the Tigers scraped by with a 3-2 win against the University of Utah. The Tigers posted seven hits against Utah’s six and junior Konnor Ash pitched seven innings, giving up two earned runs, six hits and two walks with nine strikeouts. Senior Lukas Veinbergs and junior Trey Dillard held Utah scoreless until the end.
Senior Peter Zimmermann went 2-4 at the plate with an RBI and a run. Belk also contributed two hits, going 2-3 on the day with two RBIs and a run. This was Belk’s second multi-hit game of the season and extends his hitting streak to four games.
“I thought we did a good job,” Bieser said. “There’s always things early in the season that you look at and can get better at. It was a good team win. We took care of business when we had to today.”
Sunday, Feb. 23 saw the Tigers picking up their fourth win of the season against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 8-4.
Belk went 2-3 with two RBIs and a walk and sophomore Cameron Swanger went 1-2 with three walks. Junior Jackson Lancaster also went 1-2 posting two RBIs.
Senior Spencer Juergens was the starting pitcher for Missouri, giving up nine hits and four runs in the two innings he pitched. Sophomore Andrew Vail picked up the win for the Tigers, pitching three innings and giving up only two hits. Freshman Spencer Miles got the save, pitching four innings and only giving up two hits.
Missouri takes on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi again in Texas on Monday, Feb. 24.
_Edited by Wilson Moore | wmoore@themaneater.com_
