Missouri baseball defeats Texas Tech

A 10-run seventh inning cemented the win.

By JJ Stankevitz

Published April 27, 2009

With a sweep of Texas Tech (20-27, 9-12 Big 12), Missouri baseball (24-21, 11-10) moved into sole possession of sixth place in the Big 12 with two three-game weekend series remaining on the season.

Missouri's offense, which struggled to score runs with consistency early in the year, torched Texas Tech's pitching for 42 runs during the three games, by far the team's best weekend run output of the year. This was Missouri's first weekend series sweep since a home series against Nebraska on May 16-18, 2008.

Despite a rough start, Missouri clobbered Texas Tech 18-7 in the series opener Friday. After striking out the first two batters of the first inning, pitcher Kyle Gibson allowed five runs to score with two outs to put Missouri in a deep hole early. Missouri battled back with a run in the first and four in the third to tie the game, and Aaron Senne's first home run of the year in the fifth gave Missouri a lead it would not relinquish. A 10-run seventh after Texas Tech cut the lead to one cemented Missouri's victory.

"This is what we expect every game," said Gibson, who did not allow a run again until the seventh, of his team's offensive effort. "These guys are good, and they know it. They just need a few breakout games like this to get them going. Obviously we're not going to score seven, eight, nine runs a game, but I'd expect a couple of big innings in every game from here on out."

A six-run second inning in game two allowed senior pitcher Scooter Hicks, who only was slated to throw two innings in his start, to take a perfect game into the fifth and strike out six in 4 2/3 innings of work.

"He pitched phenomenal tonight," Senne said of Hicks. "He let us go up there and add on to our big lead every inning, and it was a big confidence boost for the offense."

Hicks was poised for action as his days as a Tiger are getting fewer.

"All I wanted to do today was go out there and enjoy it as much as I possible could because my days here are limited," Hicks said.

After taking the first two games, confidence was running high in the Missouri dugout.

"We're rolling," Hicks said. "The way we're playing right now on both sides of the ball, it's going to be tough to beat us."

With a series sweep on the line, Nick Tepesch put his previous two poor starts behind him and pitched all seven innings of Missouri's 15-2 run-rule win April 26, allowing two runs while striking out nine.

"His curveball, changeup and fastball all looked good," said outfielder Greg Folgia, who went 2-for-4 with three RBIs on Sunday. "He always throws well, but sometime makes mistakes. He didn't make any today."

Missouri saw All-Star performances from hitters up and down the lineup during the week. Folgia had six hits and nine RBIs, Senne had seven hits and seven RBI and Kyle Mach had eight hits and five RBIs to lead Missouri's offensive charge.

"We have so many guys hot right now," coach Tim Jamieson said. "It's almost the exact opposite of where we were earlier in the year, when we didn't have anybody or one guy getting it done. We're starting to play our best baseball, and that's what you want to have happen this time of the year."