The sun was shining brightly, and the wind was blowing out on a beautiful Sunday at Taylor Stadium. The finale of the three-game SEC series saw the Missouri Tigers facing off with the Mississippi State Bulldogs. After both teams scored in bunches in Games 1 and 2, the rubber match was sure to be exciting, and exciting it was.
The start of the game went well for the Bulldogs as they were able to get to pitcher Austin Troesser rather quickly. The Bulldogs were able to bring three runs across in the top of the first. The inning was highlighted by Kamren James and freshman Hunter Hines as they both smashed home runs. James’ was a solo shot, but Hines was a two-run, 473-foot blast to right field, leaving the bat at 113 mph. Troesser saw his day end after just one inning and three earned runs.
Missouri would not go down easy as this series was already a home run fest, and in the bottom of the third, Luke Mann hit a leadoff homer to get the Tigers within two. Fox Leaum was able to get a fielder’s choice out and bring in a run in the same inning.
A wild pitch followed soon after and the Tigers tied the game up at three. The fifth inning was just as good for the tigers. A wild pitch let Torin Montgomery come home, and the Tigers had the lead, not long after a Ty Wilmsmeyer hit a three-run shot to put the Tigers up even more. It was 6-3 Tigers, after the fifth.
Missouri got a great showing from sophomore Carter Rustad as he was able to go 4.0 IP with three strikeouts and give up no runs, however, he left in the sixth inning with a runner on base, and that runner was able to score thanks to a two-run homer from RJ Yeager making it a one-run game at 6-5. Yeager had 4 home runs in the series. Brad Cumbest would tie the game in the top of the seventh with a double that one-hopped off the left-field fence.
Steve Bieser would hand the ball to sophomore Ian Lohse. Lohse would not give up a single run and was the main reason the Bulldogs went scoreless in the final three innings. Lohse pitched lights out, and his final stat line was 2.2 IP, 1 H, 6 K and 0 ER — a really good bounce-back game for the sophomore.
In a crazy weekend series, it was only right for the game to end on a walk-off, and it did as Josh Day was able to hit a home run over the right-field wall giving the Tigers’ the 7-6 walk-off win. The series had 18 total home runs hit — 10 by Missouri and eight by Mississippi State, which ended in a huge series win for the Tigers.
Next up, the Tigers will welcome Steve Bieser’s old team — the South Eastern Missouri State Red Hawk — to Taylor Stadium for a non-conference game. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday.