Missouri survived a late scare in their home-opener, winning 6-5 against Tarleton State on Friday night to increase their win streak to five games. 

Torin Montgomery got the scoring started in the first for the Tigers, with an RBI double to make it 1-0 early. 

Cam Careswell also had perfect timing for his first hit of the season, with a two-out, two-run missile into the left field corner for a double. Careswell got his first start of the season, and he made sure to make the most of it, as you’ll see more from him later. 

Tarleton State’s starting pitcher Bryce Hackett had an on-and-off night, as he went 4 2/3 IP, allowing five earned runs. A few walks and HBPs hurt his performance. Missouri has been really hard to stop early this year, though. They had scored 19 runs in a game earlier this season, and most of the Tigers hitters have been feeling themselves almost every game. 

Missouri’s starting pitcher Spencer Miles was a different story though. In his third start of the season, he shut out the Texan Riders with his five inning performance, only allowing three hits. His ERA is now down to 1.88 on the season. He may be a key for the Tigers success throughout the rest of the season. 

The key to his success was pitching with runners in scoring position. Every time Tarleton State got close to scoring, Miles turned on another gear and found a way out of it. 

Some of the credit has to go to Missouri’s bats though, as they seemed to score every time a runner was in scoring position. And how did they get in scoring position, you ask? Stealing bases. 

Stolen bases have been one of the most interesting stories to start the season, as Missouri keeps their streak alive of 21-straight successful stolen base attempts to start the season. 

The game didn’t end that easy for the Tigers though, as Spencer Bloom and Bryan Aguilar put together back-to-back home runs for TSU off of Nathan Landry. 

Luckily, Missouri’s bats were not finished yet. Cam Careswell came through yet again in the seventh to bring Luke Mann across home plate. In total, Careswell would finish with three hits and 3 RBI’s. With only one at-bat in the season before this, he may have earned his way to more appearances.

Choy Foo would hit a home-run for Tarleton State to start the eighth inning, and they would be a base away from winning after a two-RBI double in the ninth, but the Tigers were able to get two outs to finish the game. 

The game could’ve been prettier for Missouri. Josh Day went without a hit tonight hitting leadoff, Nathan Landry struggled in relief, and the Tigers accumulated three errors. A win is a win though, and it shows a lot about the team if they can hold on with some poor performances. 

These two will meet on Saturday and Sunday at Taylor Stadium to finish out the series. Tune in to KCOU.fm to listen to those games.