University of Missouri
3-2
Florida International
1-4
@MizzouBaseball Takes Road Game at Florida International
2/24/2016 5:44:00 PM | Baseball
MIAMI, Fla. – Mizzou Baseball earned its first road win of the season as it defeated Florida International, 7-6, on Wednesday afternoon (Feb. 24). Freshman Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) was sensational in the win, driving in a pair of runs while earning a five-out save in the win. Junior SS Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) tallied his third multi-hit game of the season and freshman Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) added two RBI as well, the first two of his career. Mizzou is now 3-2 on the season while FIU falls to 1-4.
Mizzou used the 'Johnny Wholestaff' approach on Wednesday as seven Mizzou pitchers saw action. Freshman Ty Shoaff (Akron, Ohio) earned the win, the first of his career, while Sharp earned the save. Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.) started and went 2.0 innings. Mizzou led 7-1 before FIU got back into the game, but Sharp's heroics preserved the win.
Mizzou threatened in the first inning as Howard and Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) tallied back-to-back one-out hits to put two on with one out. Shane Benes (Town & Country, Mo.) gave one a ride to the track but it was hauled in and Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.) rolled out to first to strand a pair.
Bartlett then took to the mound and retired FIU on nine pitches, tallying a strikeout in the process. The offense then responded in the top of the second as Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) lifted an opposite field homer to left field to give Mizzou a 1-0 lead, his first homer of the year after hitting five a season ago. The line kept moving for Tim Jamieson's club as an RBI single from Brumfield and Howard made it 3-0 in favor of Mizzou.
FIU got a run back in the bottom of the frame on a big-hop ground ball over the head of Benes at third to score a runner from second. But as quick as FIU got back into the game, Sharp then gave Mizzou its cushion back on two-run single in the third. His single followed a walk and a hit batter and that reopened a 5-1 lead.
Austin Tribby (Springfield, Mo.) turned in two solid innings for Mizzou, registering a season-high three strikeouts while working around three hits and a walk. He got a huge bases-loaded groundout to third to strand three to end the fourth.
Mizzou got two more runs in the fifth inning on a wild pitch and a bases-loaded walk to extend the lead to 7-1. FIU got a run back on a two-out single in the sixth off of reliever Graham Ruopp (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) but a great play by second baseman Ian Nelson (Lake St. Louis, Mo.) limited the damage and stranded a pair.
FIU then got four runs in the seventh inning, two on a two-run blast to left by Kenny Meimestorf, to pull within one at 7-6. FIU then got a runner on third with no outs in the eighth inning and after a big pop-out off of Liam Carter (Highland Park, Ill.), Sharp came on and got two big outs to strand the tying run 90 feet from home. Sharp then got the final three outs of the game to preserve the win.
Mizzou will return to Fort Myers this weekend for a four-game series against Hofstra, beginning Friday at 1 p.m. (CT). Reggie McClain (Duluth, Ga.) will get the start for Mizzou in the opener. For all the latest on Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter @MizzouBaseball and like the team on Facebook and Instagram (Mizzou Baseball).
Mizzou Musings:
Head Coach Tim Jamieson
Opening Statement…
"Tough place to play. The field is hard and wind was blowing out so hard, warm temperatures. But we competed really well and we found a way to win."
On the hitters…
"I thought they did a great job of laying off of pitches out of the zone which we weren't doing the last couple of games and then we were making good swings on pitches we knew we could hit. Then about the sixth inning, we kind of went away from that a little bit. That's why there were so many zeros at the end of the game. We had a chance to put them away and we let them back in the game."
On Brian Sharp…
"He doesn't have tremendous stuff, and by that he's not going to throw in the low 90s. He's going to throw in the high 80s touching 90. He's got two pitches – off-speed pitches that he can throw for strikes – but the most important element is that he competes. He wants the ball in those situations. That's what makes him as good as he is.
RHP/DH Brian Sharp
On his performance…
"I just tried to get in the zone early, throw a lot of strikes and keep the hitters off balance basically."
On his off-speed pitch being so effective Wednesday…
"It's huge. Whenever you get the hitter thinking you have two pitches that you can command, it makes you more dangerous."
On pitching in tight situations…
"I enjoy them. I like pitching with pressure. I like playing with pressure. I don't try to think about it but I just like doing it."
On his two-run single that broke the game open early…
"It was a curveball. It was a good pitch. It was down. It was like a back-foot slider. I just got the barrel on it and poked it into right."
Postgame Notes
- Mizzou now leads the all-time series with FIU, 4-0, after taking Wednesday's game. The other three wins came in 2007
- Mizzou is now 3-2 on the season and 3-2 on its season-opening road trip.
- RHP Cole Bartlett made his first career start on Wednesday. The start was his third appearance of the season, surpassing his previous season-best of two, set in 2014. He was injured all of 2015.
- DH Brian Sharp got his first career start as a hitter. He has also made two pitching appearances this season. He tallied his first career RBIs on a two-run single in the third inning. It was also his first career hit.
- Freshman LF Connor Brumfield hit leadoff for the first time in his career. He tallied his first career RBI on a single in the second inning.
- With their singles in the first inning, Ryan Howard and Jake Ring each extended their hitting streaks to five consecutive games.
- Howard now has three multi-hit performances in just five games.
- Brett Bond's second-inning homer was his first of the season. The Mizzou catcher has reached base safely in all five games this season after the homer.
- Bond tallied his second multi-hit game of the season and also turned in his first hit batting right handed this year.
- Mizzou tallied its second 10+ hit game of the season and first since pounding out 12 in the season opener against Seton Hall. Mizzou had just 11 hits over the previous two games before hitting 11 on Wednesday.
- RF Kirby McGuire tallied his first multi-hit game of the season in the win.
- Sharp also earned his first career save after getting the final five outs of the game.
- Freshman Ty Shoaff earned his first career win on Wednesday.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Shoaff, Ty (1-0)
L: Cody Crouse (0-1)
S: Sharp, Brian (1)
Batting:
HR: Bond, Brett 1
RBI: Brumfield, Connor 2 ; Howard, Ryan 1 ; Bond, Brett 1 ; Sharp, Brian 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Shane Benes 1 ; Lavy, Zach 2 ; Bond, Brett 1 ; Sharp, Brian 1 ; Nelson, Ian 1 ; McGuire, Kirby 1
CS: Sharp, Brian 1
HBP: Lavy, Zach 1
PO: Bond, Brett 1
Batting:
2B: Irving Lopez 1 ; Jack Schaaf 1 ; Eddie Silva 1
HR: Kenny Meimerstorf 1
RBI: Zack Soria 1 ; Zach Files 1 ; Kenny Meimerstorf 2 ; Eddie Silva 1 ; Kolby Follis 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jack Schaaf 1 ; JC Escarra 1 ; Zach Files 2 ; Kenny Meimerstorf 1 ; Eddie Silva 1
SB: Kolby Follis 1
