Tigers come out with intensity

By Catherine Crane

Published May 1, 2007

MU baseball coach Tim Jamieson was worried about his team's lack of intensity during games on Sundays. But this weekend, there wasn't much to worry about, as the Tigers came out with fire in the final game of the series.

The Tigers won the third game in their series against Texas Tech, completing the sweep of their Big 12 Conference competition after a tight game. They just squeaked by the Red Raiders, 6-5, scoring the final run to win the game in the bottom of the ninth on a wild pitch.

Sophomore Ryan Lollis drove in the tying run on his first-pitch double and scored the winning run on a wild pitch, which he said he was waiting for.

"I was ready for (the wild pitch) the whole time," Lollis said. "The coaches were saying if there's a wild pitch, you better be ready. First pitch to Kyle (Mach) was a fastball, and I was ready to go."

Tigers fans were kept on the edge of their seats for a weekend of baseball at Taylor Stadium. The Tigers' previous two games were just as exciting, with MU posting a nine-run third inning in the opener on Friday, winning 10-4, and a back-and-forth game on Saturday ending in a 12-7 MU victory for the team's first sweep of the Big 12 season.

Going into the game on Sunday, Jamieson said the team needed to play with more intensity, and that would give it a good chance at a sweep. And that's just what it did.

"This is the third weekend that we've had an opportunity to sweep, and the mindset on Sunday has been a little bit less than 100 percent in terms of intensity," Jamieson said on Saturday. "They need to come out tomorrow like it's the first game of the series and get after these guys, just like they have these first two games. If we do that, then I like our chances. We need to get after them tomorrow."

The Tigers scored nine runs in the third inning on Friday to support starting pitcher sophomore Aaron Crow, with junior Jacob Priday getting the first RBIs of the inning. Priday, who was struggling, showed some power with a home run to left center, driving in the first two RBIs of the inning to jump-start the Tigers.

"After anybody hits a home run you get pumped up," Priday said. "Any runs you can get, everybody gets pumped up no matter how you get them. But when they come in home runs, everybody gets that much more up, and it blew it open for a big inning."

That big inning was the Tigers' only offense besides the one run scored in the first inning and showed the versatility of the lineup.

Sophomore Rick Zagone started Saturday's game but lasted only 4.2 innings, with freshman Greg Folgia coming in relief to complete the final 4.1 innings without giving up a hit to preserve the 12 runs that the offense put up.