The Missouri Tigers looked for their sixth win in a row and second against the Tarleton State Texans on a cool Saturday afternoon at Taylor Stadium. Weather was originally forecasted and looked like it might affect the game, but it held off until well after the final out, one which finalized a 9-1 Tigers win. 

On the mound to start the game for the Tigers was arguably one of the best starting pitchers on the roster, Sophomore Austin Troesser. Troesser came into the game with two wins in two appearances with a 3.00 ERA and 10 strikeouts. 

For the Texans, Freshman Kyler Mentzel took the mound. Mentzel entered with two losses in three appearances with a 6.75 ERA. Tarleton State looked for their fourth win on the season in their second matchup with the Tigers

The Tigers quickly took advantage of the Texans’ freshman, tallying three runs in the first innings, facilitated by two walks and a double by Torin Montgomery into right-center field. Texans Manager Aaron Meade approached the mound and signaled to the bullpen to bring in Luke Bailey in relief. 

The Tigers pitching and defense held the Texans hitless until one out in the third inning, where Bryan Aguilar singled. The hit resulted in no nominal offense for the Texans. 

In the bottom of the third, Trevor Austin and Cam Careswell crossed the plate to extend the Tigers’ lead to 5-0. 

Texan Colby Seltzer lined one off of the left field foul pole in the top of the fourth inning, giving Tarleton State their first run of the day. The home run was Seltzer’s eighth hit of the season and second home run in his 2022 campaign. 

The Tigers kept attacking in the bottom of the fourth inning with two more runs added with Ty Wilmsmeyer and Ross Lovich crossing the plate, facilitated by a Josh Day single and a sacrifice fly to right field by Trevor Austin. The Tigers added one more in the fifth with a Carlos Peña single, extending their lead to 8-1.

Tigers’ pitcher Austin Troesser exited the game after five, finishing with five complete innings allowing three hits and one earned run while striking out two. Troesser lowered his season ERA to 2.57.  

Christian Wall entered for the Tigers to take care of the Texans in the sixth and seventh innings. Wall struggled early in his appearance, but was able to come away unscaved. In the seventh, the Tigers infield was just milliseconds away from turning a triple play. If completed, the triple play would have been the first since February 28th, 2018, in a game where the Tigers beat Alabama A&M 14-0.

After five scoreless half innings, Missouri’s Ross Lovich stepped up to the plate with one out in the bottom of the eighth, grinding out an eight pitch at bat. On the final pitch of the at-bat Lovich launched the ball far over the left field wall, for his second home run of the 2022 season. 

Missouri brought in senior Drew Garrett in the eighth inning. Garrett settled in for his only inning of work, seeing four batters, walking one and striking out another. The Tigers entrusted senior Trae Robertson with the ninth inning, looking to put away the Texans and secure a series win at the very least. 

Robertson sat down his first batter with a flyout to centerfield and his second batter with a strikeout. Robertson gave the Texans some hope with a walk to his third batter faced, but Texan Alec Williams flew out to right field for the final out of the game. 

The Tarleton State Texans move to 3-7 on the season, while the Tigers continue to win, grabbing their eighth win on the year compared to their only one loss. The Texans will stay in Columbia one more night to face the Tigers again Sunday at 1 p.m. to finish the series.