By: Matt Van De Sompele, KCOU Sports

The Missouri Tigers defeated the Mississippi St. Bulldogs 10-2 in the rubber match of a three-game series Sunday. The Tigers offense jumped on Mississippi State ace Alexis Silkwood early with the first three Mizzou batters reaching base. Silkwood then struggled, allowing two runs to off a walk and a hit by pitch. Kirsten Mack hit a grand slam to center to give Mizzou a 6-0 lead after the first inning.

In the third inning, Angela Randazzo kept things rolling by hitting a home run of her own, The home run gave Mizzou a 7-0 lead and 48 home runs for the team on the season. Mississippi State threatened in the top of the fifth inning when two runners reached on a Finucane walk and an error in left field. MSU’s Caroline Seitz took advantage of the runners in scoring position and hit a two-run single to center field to put the Bulldogs on the board, 7-2.

The Tigers answered right back in the bottom half of the fifth inning. With two runners on base, Natalie Fleming came through with some late-game heroics. She stepped up and crushed a ball to deep center over the scoreboard for the three-run home run to give Mizzou a walk-off 10-2 victory.

With the victory, the Tigers took the series win, and more importantly gained some confidence as season winds down. Mizzou put itself in a great position after this weekend’s series and now faces Western Illinois on Wednesday to see if they can keep the momentum rolling.