Missouri baseball were victorious, 2-1 against the No. 4 Florida Gators on Friday, opening up their SEC homestand with a victory in which the pitching shined brightly throughout. 

The Tigers (13-18, 2-8 SEC) had one of their best starts of the season starting with Logan Lunceford, who threw six shutout innings, eight strikeouts and one hit allowed.

The biggest part is to have more preparation and intensity and focus and between the starts,” Lunceford said. “Nothing in the stars has changed [after the halfway point of the season]. It’s just leading up to the start, there’s more preparation behind it.”

Offense was hard to come by in the first five innings for both teams. Only a run was scored between the two teams through six straight innings after the first.

Despite creating lots of scoring opportunities, the Tigers were unable to cash in from the first inning onward. Eighteen runners were left on base by Missouri, including two opportunities with the bases loaded. 

I see [the runners stranded] as reality and they need to understand it’s a reality,” Missouri head coach Kerrick Jackson said. “18 runners left on, if you do something with half of those, the game is over in the ninth inning. There is no time or room for excuses. Either you get the job done or you don’t, and if not, figure out what we need to do to get the job done the next time,” Jackson said. 

The lone run produced came on an RBI groundout by Jackson Beaman, scoring Jeric Curtis from third, who had reached on a leadoff triple. 

The Gators found their response in the top of the eighth inning when reliever Carter Rustad gave up a solo shot over the left field fence to designated hitter Luke Heyman. This was Heyman’s seventh big fly of the season. 

The bottom of the eighth saw another potential triple hit off the bat of Jeric Curtis robbed by Gators center fielder Hayden Yost, a play that encapsulated the Gators looking continuously in trouble, but managing to squeeze out of it. 

Rustad, after the home run, pitched four innings of relief only surrendering the home run and a hit by pitch. His appearance included five strikeouts, providing the Tigers offense more chances to put runs on the board. 

After the eighth inning, the teams combined for one base runner, as the pitching duel continued. In the bottom of the eleventh the Tigers finally found their answer. 

Following a double by Jackson Lovich, birthday man Jedier Hernandez came up to the dish. On 2-1 pitch from Gators reliever Luke McNeillie, Hernandez singled through the left hand side of the infield, scoring Lovich and ending the game. 

I’ve been fighting the whole day (at the plate), I had that double but this is all day I don’t know what it was. I was just getting myself into two strike counts,” Hernandez said. “I was looking for a fastball and I got a good swing.” 

The Tigers will look to take the series against Florida (17-12, 6-3 SEC) on Saturday.