Tigers drop two, win one

By Catherine Crane

Published Feb. 27, 2007

After dropping two extra-inning games on Friday, MU's baseball team was off to a tough start at the Service Academy Classic in Millington, Tenn., and finished the series 1-3, dropping its record to 6-5. It was a rough weekend for the Tigers, with several strong starting performances lost in the bullpen.

Sophomore Rick Zagone pitched 8.1 innings in the opener against Brigham Young, allowing one earned run on seven hits, striking out a career-high nine. Zagone was relieved by freshman Greg Folgia, who gave up a homerun and two unearned runs to BYU. The Tigers combined for three hits, losing 4-1.

Later that night in a 13-inning game, MU fell to Akron, 8-5. Sophomore Ian Berger surrendered three runs in four starts. Freshman standout Kyle Gibson came on in the eighth to finish the affair, allowing only one hit until the final inning, when he gave up two hits, one of which was a homerun, plating three runs and finishing MU's chances.

MU's only win came against Navy on Sunday morning, with MU shutting out the Midshipmen 5-0. Senior Stephan Holst made his first start since March 2006, after having arm surgery, and pitched three scoreless innings, giving up no hits and striking out two batters. Ryan Gargano and Ryan Allen came in as relief, each taking three scoreless innings. Senior John McKee connected in the sixth for a three-run homerun to put the Tigers ahead 4-0. McKee tacked on another RBI by drawing a bases-loaded walk in the seventh inning. Junior Evan Frey stole three of the game's eight stolen bases and was one shy of a school record.

Sophomore Aaron Crow started the final rescheduled game against Memphis, striking out a career-high eight batters in his seventh scoreless innings of four-hit baseball. The Tigers were only able to muster two hits in the game, and the bullpen combined to give up five hits and five runs to give Memphis the win, 5-1.