Missouri Baseball Starts Strong, Almost Blows It Versus SIU-E

April 06, 2016 | Sports,

By: Ben Burke, KCOU Sports

Columbia, Mo. – For the first half of the Missouri baseball team’s 9-6 win over SIU-Edwardsville Tuesday night, it appeared that the Tigers still had all the momentum from their weekend series win over No. 15 Arkansas.
For the second half, it appeared that the Tigers had lost all of it. After scoring all of their nine runs in the first four innings, Missouri allowed six in the last five, and was a bases-clearing hit away from giving up the lead at the end.
“We kind of let off the gas a little bit,” first baseman Zach Lavy said after the game.
The Tigers benefitted from being aggressive on the base paths early. Missouri stole six bases in the first inning alone on its way to four runs.
Missouri would go on to add five more runs over the next three innings to put the game away before the fourth inning was over.
Then, the Tigers hit a rough patch. Two walks, a passed ball, a wild pitch, and an error led to four fifth inning runs for the Cougars.
After Missouri allowed two more runs in the eighth and ninth innings, pitcher Austin Tribby stranded the tying run at first for his second save of the season.
Freshman pitcher Grant Macciocchi made his Tiger debut Tuesday night with a short-but-solid outing. Macciocchi started the game off with two innings of no-hit ball for his first career win.
With the win, Missouri improves to 18-13 on the season. The Tigers will stay in Columbia for a weekend series against Auburn starting Thursday, April 7 at 6:30 p.m.