Mizzou baseball opened its first series at Taylor Stadium of the 2024 campaign on Friday night.
Northern Kentucky took the contest, winning 3-1 in a game that consisted of quality pitching from both team’s starting pitchers and less scoring offensively.
Mizzou (5-4) starter Bryce Mayer started off the game recording an early groundout, but then gave up a three-run homer to Jake Paulick. This marked Paulick’s first homer of the season for the Norsemen.
Mayer settled in after the first inning hiccup, striking out three straight Northern Kentucky (3-6) bats on eleven pitches in the second and four straight scoreless innings following the second.
The Tigers managed to put a run on the board in the bottom half of the second inning, with the help of a couple misplays by the Norsemen. Missouri’s lead-off batter Tucker Moore reached base on a double as Norsemen right fielder Treyvin Moss lost track of the fly ball.
After a sacrifice bunt by the Tigers, Moore took advantage of a wild pitch from Norsemen starter Tanner Gills to score from third base which gave the Tigers their first run of the contest.
Another scoring opportunity presented itself for the Tigers in the bottom of the second with runners on second and third and a 3-0 count for Missouri shortstop Drew Culbertson. Gills managed to get out of the jam, throwing three straight strikes to Culbertson, ending the Tigers scoring threat.
After the bottom of the second, both starters Gills and Mayer took turns throwing scoreless innings, with neither the Tigers or the Norsemen recording the rest of the game. Mayer ended the game with six strikeouts, three earned runs through five innings pitched. Gills struckout six Tigers and gave up one run in his five innings on the mound.
Mayer was replaced in the sixth inning by Javyn Pimental who, despite hitting Trevyin Moss, struck out two of the four batters in the inning and recorded a scoreless inning of work in his appearance. The Norsemen left a runner on third, another scoring opportunity that faded away in this contest.
“Basically how we’re doing with our pitching staff,” Jackson said. “We’re piggybacking our guys so we alternate who’s gonna start from one week to the next, Bryce got extended because his 18th hitter came in the top of the fifth.”
Gills’s night ended in the seventh inning, as he was replaced by sidearm right handed pitcher Nick McClanahan who kept the Tigers bats quiet. Two strikeouts and a ground out were all the Tigers bats could muster in this half of the inning.
The top of the eighth saw a runner just ninety feet away from home plate, once again the result of quality base running more than offense. After his single through the left side of the infield, Clearly Simpson stole second base as Tigers catcher Mateo Serna’s throw went wide of second base. Then, Pimental’s next pitch went to the backstop, leading Simpson to take third.
After walking Paulick, the Norsemen had runners on the corners with two outs. In the end, Pimental kept his scoreless tally going, forcing Moss to ground out to the mound with the Norsemen still leading 3-1 going into the bottom half of the eighth.
The Tigers’ last hit and base runner came in the bottom of the eighth inning. After a lead off single and two stolen bases by Culbertson, the Tigers struck out twice to leave another run ninety feet away.
The bottom of the ninth was another blank drawn by the Tigers offense. McClanahan sat the Tigers down one-two-three to give the Norsemen their first win following a five game losing streak.
“The emphasis is more on having consistent quality at bats, regardless of when they come,” Mizzou coach Kerrick Jackson said. “That’s one of the things that we’re working with our guys on a daily basis, and just trying to get them to understand that concept.”
Missouri will look to bounce back against the Norsemen at 2 p.m on Saturday in the second game of the three game set.