Tigers defeat Leathernecks
Stephan Holst made the start after Tommy John's surgery.
Published March 16, 2007
Not as many Tigers crossed the plate Thursday as in MU's win over Saint Louis a night before, but the baseball team still topped the Western Illinois Leathernecks, 6-3, extending its winning streak to nine games.
Senior Stephan Holst started for the Tigers after returning from Tommy John's surgery last season, pitching 4.1 innings and giving up one earned run on five hits.
Holst recorded four strikeouts and didn't walk any batters.
Coach Tim Jamieson said Holst wasn't on a pitch count but he still took him out early.
"He was getting hit around by the left-handed hitters," Jamieson said. "He was making some mistakes with two strikes. There's no reason to leave a guy out there if he's not being as effective as you need him to be. But I thought he threw well tonight."
Despite the win, Jamieson said he isn't thrilled with his team's performance because WIU helped MU out by recording four errors.
"I feel like it was a wash," he said. "We helped them out too. We ran ourselves out of innings. We could have, and should, have scored a lot more runs. I thought offensively we didn't take advantage of some situations we created for ourselves."
Senior Jacob Priday continued to struggle at the plate, going 1-for-3, but raising his batting average to .210 on the season.
But Jamieson said he sees improvement.
"He's getting better," Jamieson said. "He looks a lot better at the plate, his practice swings look a lot better, and his game results have been a lot better. Jake fights himself so hard. You just try to get him to relax and go up there and keep it simple."
The top of the lineup continued to produce with senior Evan Frey leading off 3-for-3 with an RBI and three runs scored.
Frey got on base twice with a pair of bunts, one bunt taking him to second base on a throwing error by WIU.
Frey also drove in senior Gary Arndt, 2-for-3, with a triple in the seventh inning. Senior John McKee was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.
Jamieson said McKee is a big part of the Tigers' offense.
"I think John's role is to drive in runs, but the key to that is Brock (Bond) and Evan and those guys getting on base," Jamieson said.
The top of the order has produced for the Tigers with Frey and McKee driving in all of the Tigers runs.
McKee said the whole lineup is contributing.
"We have a lot of confidence in our top guys and right through the lineup," McKee said. "If one person doesn't get it done the next guy's going to step up and do it."
Frey said each player in the lineup has his own role.
"We just all have our own certain job, and everybody's just sticking to the plan and doing what their supposed to do," he said. "We're all clicking pretty good right now."
Four MU pitchers took the final 4.2 innings of the game with the bullpen giving up only two runs combined.
Two freshmen finished the game off for the Tigers with Greg Folgia pitching the eighth inning and Kyle Gibson closing.
Folgia gave up a run on two hits and struck out one batter.
Gibson came in for a 1-2-3 ninth inning, striking out the final batter.
The WIU pitchers weren't shelled as badly as SLU's were the night before (a 19-1 MU win), as WIU's ace Quinn Leath got the start. Leath pitched five innings and gave up nine hits and a total of five runs, one of which was earned.