By Logan Perrone
SPRINGFIELD – Missouri baseball visited the Missouri State Bears at Hammons Field in Springfield Tuesday night in the first of two meetings this season. Offense proved to be the difference- the Mizzou lineup went off to score 14 runs.
Missouri State struck first, scoring a lone run in the bottom of the second. The only lead of the night for the Bears had short life span, as the Tigers would respond with 5 runs in the top half of the third. MO State would get back one in the bottom half of that frame.
Mizzou would plate another five in the bottom of the fifth, which featured a grand slam from Clayton Peterson, his first home run this season.
“It feels great,” Peterson said on his performance. “I was just trying to get the barrel to the baseball and luckily I was able to [get] it.”
The Tigers would go on to add 4 more through the seventh and eighth. Missouri State made a late ninth inning push, scoring four runs on three hits, but the deficit was too large to overcome as Mizzou defeated their in-state rival 14-6.
Columbia native and Hickman graduate Trae Robertson picked up his second win of the season while Nick Schmidt took the loss for the Bears.
The Tigers not only outhit their opponent but beat them on the mound as well. Mizzou pitchers racked up 14 strikeouts- half from starter Tommy Springer, who only walked four. The Bears, however, who used seven different arms, only struck out 6 and walked a whopping 11 batters.
“[Springer] was really solid” Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser noted. “He settled in and made some good pitches and just kept things going.”
Missouri has now won 6 of their last 7 games and seek to keep the momentum going with a three-game set on the road against Georgia.
Edited by Garrett Jones | [email protected]