Brown delivers for Tiger baseball
If Missouri was ever going to get the monkey off their back, this was the time to do it.
The Tigers beat the Kansas Jayhawks 3-2 on Saturday at Taylor Stadium, thus snapping a grueling nine game losing streak, as well as a six game skid against Kansas. Missouri improved to 2-8 in the Big 12, grabbing a desperately needed win after suffering series sweeps the two previous weekends at the hands of Texas and Oklahoma State.
Starter Matt Stites set the tone for the Tigers, allowing only six hits and one earned run in 6.1 innings. The junior college transfer did not help his cause in the first inning, however, committing an error that would eventually cross the plate and put Missouri in an early 1-0 hole.
He regrouped, however, allowing only one more run in the next 5.1 innings of work. The junior attacked the zone and featured a filthy slider throughout the outing, which led to 7 strikeouts and only two walks.
The Missouri bats came to life in the fifth inning, plating two runs to tie the score. Brannon Champagne singled with one out, and after an Eric Garcia double advanced him to third the sophomore eventually scored on a wild pitch. Jonah Schmidt then delivered a clutch RBI single up the middle, scoring Blake Brown, who had reached on a fielder’s choice.
The score remained deadlocked until the bottom of the 9th, largely due to Phil McCormick’s 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. Missouri’s appearance leader showed up when it counted, conceding only one hit and striking out two.
Then, in the bottom of the 9th, the Tigers finally broke through and jumped into the win column for the first time in almost three weeks. Champagne led off the inning with a single to left field. Garcia followed with a sacrifice bunt, moving Champagne into scoring position for Brown. Brown didn’t disappoint, dropping an outside pitch into right field, scoring Champagne with the go-ahead run.
Missouri will attempt to carry that momentum into Sunday’s rubber match with rival Kansas, set to start at 1 p.m. at Taylor Stadium.