Tigers shine on Cardinals' stage

Tigers hope to play at Busch Stadium again.

By Evan Glantz

Published April 2, 2009

The Missouri Tigers baseball team beat the Saint Louis University Billikens 19-6 Wednesday night at Busch Stadium. Junior leftfielder Greg Folgia had one word to describe his experience in the big league park.

"Amazing," he said.

That was a sentiment most of the team and coach Tim Jamieson seemed to share.

"I've been a Cardinal fan my whole life," Jamieson said. "It's why you're in the game, to have opportunities to play at venues like this, whether it be regular season or postseason. It's phenomenal that (the Cardinals) are allowing us to do it."

Jamieson said the game was arranged by a former Missouri player who is now close to Jeff Luhnow, Cardinals vice president of amateur scouting and player development.

"We've been trying to find the right person for a number of years," Jamieson said. "We told Jeff what we wanted to do and he went to work and got it done. Hopefully it's a positive for them as much as it is for us."

It was certainly a positive experience for the Tiger hitters. Missouri had one of its best offensive games of the year, scoring 19 runs on 16 hits. Junior shortstop Michael Liberto led the hit parade with four singles and three RBI.

"Everybody walked into the stadium and took out their phones, starts taking pictures and everything. I definitely did," he said. "I woke up this morning and realized that I was playing in Busch Stadium and was like, 'This is cool.' (Cardinals first baseman Albert) Pujols stands right there. All the pros stand right here. I was just living it."

Many other members of the Tigers lineup stepped up their game on the bigger stage. Used to playing in the friendly confines of Taylor Stadium, which can house over 3,000 fans, Missouri had to adjust to playing in a stadium built for more than 43,000 fans.

"I've never been here. I've never even been to the old one," Folgia said. "It's huge "One of our coaches got out the measuring tape -- same height, same bases, same base paths. It's just amazing to play here. We're very fortunate."

Folgia did it all Wednesday night. A force offensively and defensively, the leftfielder went two for four with a double and two RBI and even made a spectacular running grab to rob SLU of an extra base hit. He even came in to pitch, allowing no runs in one inning with a strikeout.

Overall the game was a success on many levels. Missouri's victory brought the team's record back to .500, and it also got the chance to play at a major league venue.

"This was a great environment," Jamieson said. "I'm glad that a couple thousand people turned out, and hopefully that's enough for the Cardinals to do this on an annual basis, because we'd love to."