Missouri baseball and the University of Nebraska-Omaha found themselves in an intense faceoff before the first pitch of the Tigers home opener.
Just mere seconds before Missouri’s starter Spencer Miles began his afternoon, two players on each side got themselves into a good ol’ fashion standoff.
Home plate umpire Rick Allen quickly told Missouri’s Tommy Springer that he had to go back to his designated dugout. Springer did, which gave Omaha its first, and only, victory of the day.
While they lost the pregame battle, the Tigers won the real fight, as they took down the Mavericks 12-10 in a wild four-hour game.
Miles bounced back from a rough outing in Phoenix, Arizona, against Grand Canyon to completely shut down Omaha’s bats. He struck out seven batters and gave up just three hits in six strong innings.
“This whole week I worked on getting my off-speed over and really working on my changeup,” Miles said.
He put his team in a wonderful position to win the game. The four pitchers who followed Miles couldn’t find that same success.
First came senior Cameron Pfferer. He faced four batters and gave up two hits and two walks. Pfferer didn’t record a single out before Missouri coach Steve Bieser pulled him for Jared Simpson.
Simpson didn’t do much better. He only recorded one out, he also walked two batters and two other Mavericks got hits off of him as well.
Bieser then turned to junior Jacob Kush, who helped the Tigers get out of the seventh inning. But with their seven-run lead shrunk to two, the damage was done. When Kush returned in the eighth inning, so did the struggles.
With two outs in the eighth, third baseman Luke Mann committed an untimely error to keep a Maverick rally alive. It turned into three more runs, which gave Omaha five for the inning.
Missouri’s coach went back to the bullpen again, this time to the junior Springer. Springer pitched six balls, none of them strikes, before Bieser yanked him.
Freshman pitcher Zach Hise finished the night for the Tigers. Much like last week, Hise entered into a high-pressure situation and delivered once again.
The freshman shut the door on the Mavericks, recording his second save in as many appearances.
“Right now he is one of our most valuable arms,” Bieser said. “Eventually we want Zach to build up enough innings to enter the rotation but right now he’s doing a great job for us”
Overall, Missouri’s pitching needs some adjustments so it can be picture-perfect come SEC play.
Offense on the other hand, might not need many changes.
The Tigers’ leadoff hitter, junior Josh Day, reached base on all five plate appearances, exactly what you want from the top of the order.
“Josh did an amazing job today and he really has been swinging it well,” Bieser said. “He’s got a lot of juice in that bat, he just needs to be a little more comfortable on defense.”
When Day got on base, the bats behind him brought the bombs. Mark Vierling and Cameron Swanger hit home runs in the third and seventh inning to put the pressure on Omaha.
Arguably Missouri’s biggest hit of the day came off the bat of Mann. A fifth-inning bases-clearing triple down the right field line gave the Tigers a 6-0 lead. A few pitches later, Mann crossed home plate to give his team a seven-run advantage.
The Tigers took much better at-bats against Omaha than they did all series long in Phoenix. They had 13 walks, which forced the Mavericks into difficult situations on the mound.
The Tigers did exactly what they needed to for the first game of a four-game series, seeing a lot of pitchers. Omaha went through seven guys and some of them will surely reappear later this weekend.
Despite the somewhat chilly temperatures, Missouri’s offense came out red hot. If Friday afternoon was any indication of how the series might go, it could be a fruitful weekend for the Tigers.
_Edited by Kyle Pinnell | kpinnell@themaneater.com_
