After coming off a series loss in Athens to the Georgia Bulldogs, Missouri baseball needed to take advantage of a potential get-right game back in its home state against the Missouri State Bears. After falling behind Georgia in each of the previous two games, the Tigers rallied early to take a first-inning lead which ultimately held up for a 6-2 victory in Springfield.
Brock Daniels, who has been garnering more and more confidence from head coach Kerrick Jackson with each passing game, took a turn batting leadoff for Missouri on Tuesday. He immediately paid off that decision with a 1-2 single to left that extended his hitting streak to six games. He wasn’t there for too long, moving up to third on a wild pickoff move from Missouri State starter Eric Loomis. Center fielder Kaden Peer wasted no time bringing him across home plate on another single.
Loomis was having some trouble controlling the running game in the first, so Peer took advantage by swiping second and moving to third on a wild pitch. When Tigers got on, it was only a matter of time before they were in motion. That allowed Jackson Lovich to drop the third Tiger single into left field and put Missouri up by a deuce before the Bears had a chance to bat.
Daniel Wissler took the mound for Missouri, just looking for length as the Florida series took a toll on the bullpen. He started shakily, allowing the Bears to put runners on first and second in the bottom of the first, but struck out second baseman Nick Rodriguez to end the threat. The lanky lefty from O’Fallon locked in to pitch into the fifth, only allowing a single run which was plated after Jacob Peaden took over.
By then, Missouri had plated three more runs to build a five-run cushion. Drew Culbertson had just reached on yet another single to left before Mateo Serna used a strong wind gusting out to center to blast his second homer of the year. Serna got the head of the bat out on a Loomis fastball and got it way up in the Springfield air. Bears center fielder Jahlani Rogers kept drifting back before running into the left-center wall and out of room.
Culbertson had one of his most productive days at the plate of the season, as he marched back up to the plate in the fourth and singled home Danny Corona to make it 5-0.
In the top of the seventh, the Tiger offense had been quiet since the fourth. The Bears had been putting pressure on Tigers pitchers, and seemed destined to break through eventually after squandering a bases-loaded chance in the bottom of the sixth. Jackson Lovich decided to bring the momentum back to the Missouri dugout as he drilled a chest-high heater the opposite way to right field and over the fence to give the Tigers a 6-1 lead. This was Lovich’s third hit of the night, and it sure must have felt good for him.
Lovich, who is still coming back from an injured thumb, has been searching for this type of performance for a few games now. Over his last five games before this performance, he was a combined 1-17 at the plate. Even with the slump, Lovich is still batting over .300 on the season and leads the Tigers in OPS at .993.
The Bears threatened once more in the bottom of the eighth, loading the bases with only one out. Ian Lohse was summoned from the Tiger pen to face Bears star Dylan Leach, with a potential tie game only a swing of the bat away. Lohse responded by jamming Leach, getting him to roll over a big curveball to third. Trevor Austin took it from there, stepping on the bag and firing over to Corona at first.
Double play, crisis averted.
Missouri would go on to hold the lead in the bottom of the ninth as Lohse stayed in the game to close it out with a strikeout of Rodriguez once again.
With the win, Missouri moved to 17-21 on the year, while the Bears fell to 15-20. This marks the Tigers’ third consecutive win over the Bears, and now they take on LSU at Taylor Stadium in a series starting Friday. Missouri State will head to Valparaiso to face the Beacons.