University of Missouri
4-2
Hofstra
0-4
@MizzouBaseball Takes Opener vs. Hofstra, 12-2
2/26/2016 4:30:00 PM | Baseball
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Mizzou Baseball used a season-high nine walks and scored a season-high 12 runs to back another sensational start from senior RHP Reggie McClain (Duluth, Ga.) to earn a 12-2 win in the series opener against Hofstra on Friday (Feb. 26) at City of Palms Park. McClain tossed his second career complete game, allowing no earned runs while striking out a career-high six in his second win of the season. He has not walked a batter in 41.0 career innings when pithing on a neutral site and is 5-0 with 0.00 ERA in such outings.
Freshmen Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) and Ian Nelson (Lake St. Louis, Mo.) each reset career-highs in RBIs and hits and classmate Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) tallied his first career multi-hit game to spark the offense. In all, Mizzou's three freshmen in the lineup drove in eight of the 12 runs. Senior Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.) also added a double and a single for his second multi-hit game of the season and SS Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) extended his hitting streak to six games and added two RBI in the win.
McClain needed just nine pitches to get through the first inning, tallying a pair of strikeouts in the opening frame. He then threw just 11 pitches in the second inning and picked up another strikeout as he was dealing early. McClain was snake-bitten a bit in the third inning, taking a comebacker off the leg. That run came around to score after an error and a big-hop ground ball to third, giving Hofstra an early 1-0 lead.
Mizzou then put two men on in the bottom of the third on a hit by Nelson and a hit-batter. That brought Howard to the dish, but he grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.
The Tigers did not threaten again until the bottom of the fifth. Lavy reached on a leadoff error and Wednesday's hero Sharp singled into right to put runners on the corners with one down for Nelson. He tallied an RBI single and Brumfield followed with an RBI double to give Mizzou a 2-1 lead. Mizzou threatened to break the game open, but couldn't tack on more runs.
Hofstra tied the game in the next half inning, using two hits and an error to plate a run. Mizzou got a big double play on a flyout to center, throwing the trail runner out at second base, and McClain picked up a strikeout to get out of the inning.
In the sixth, Mizzou picked up right where it left off in the fifth, loading the bases with no outs, with the big hit coming from Lavy – a double to right center. Sharp then drew a bases-loaded walk to score a run and Nelson hit a ground ball out to the right side to plate another run, giving Mizzou a 4-2 lead. The Tigers then drew three bases-loaded walks to plate three more runs, scoring five runs on just one hit. Hofstra issued four walks and a hit batter in inning.
Mizzou added to the lead in the seventh inning, using a two-run single from Brumfiled and then added three more in the ninth.
Mizzou will play a doubleheader against Hofstra tomorrow beginning at noon (CT). Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) and Austin Tribby (Springfield, Mo.) will get the starts for Mizzou. 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…
"Reggie gave us a chance to get settled in and get to their bullpen. Offensively, we have to be a lot better for the first five or six innings than what we were. We beat up on a bullpen that struggled throwing strikes. We made too many mistakes defensively and offensively we gave away too many at-bats early. Reggie did a great job of putting up zeros."
On hitters making an adjustment late…
"I still saw some chases (late in the game) that we shouldn't be doing. We have to stay inside the strike zone. We get to two strikes we want to expand it a little bit. We are chasing too much before we get to two strikes. I saw some good things, but against the pitching that we saw we better score a bunch of runs."
On the freshmen…
"Freshmen really did a good job. They are the ones who kind of got it going for us with those hit-and-runs. Coach Zulli gets credit for that because he was aggressive, putting guys in motion. That makes it tough to defend."
2B Ian Nelson
On his performance…
"It was a lot of fun. I felt like I was just doing my job. Got a hit-and-run in one at-bat and I was just trying to get it down on the ground. And then Brumfield, same thing on the hit-and-run. I was happy to help the team."
On why the hit-and-runs were successful…
"Practicing them a lot in practice."
On his error…
"I just wasn't ready for it. I was sitting back on my feet too much and it hopped. The field is really hard, but I wasn't ready for it and it just chopped over my head."
Postgame Notes
- Mizzou now leads the all-time series with Hofstra, 1-0, as Friday's game was the first ever between the two teams.
- Mizzou has now won four of six games on its season-opening Florida road trip.
- Mizzou scored a season-high 12 runs on Friday and also walked a season-high nine times. Mizzou did not walk more than eight times in a single game last season.
- 2B Ian Nelson tallied a career-best three RBI in Friday's game. He did not have an RBI this season before Friday. He also tallied his first career multi-hit game.
- DH Brian Sharp, in his second consecutive start, tallied three hits and a bases-loaded walk, his second consecutive game with multiple RBI. It was his first multi-hit game as a Tiger. He has multiple RBIs in back-to-back games since being inserted into the starting lineup.
- Mizzou drew a season-high nine walks (four in the sixth inning alone) and has now walked a combined 15 times over the last two games.
- RF Connor Brumfield tallied career-high three RBI and also turned in his first career multi-hit game on Friday.
- SS Ryan Howard extended his hitting streak to six straight games with an eighth-inning RBI single. He has hit safely in every game this season. He also has two multi-RBI games this season as well.
- Reggie McClain is now 5-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 41.0 innings with just 26 hits and zero walks in five outings in his Mizzou career on neutral sites.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: McClain, Reggie (2-0)
L: Heidenfelder, Adam (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Bottari, Nick 1
RBI: Leiderman, David 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Hardardt, Chris 1 ; Archer, Tom 1
CS: Karl, Ryan 1
PO: Annunziata, Mat 1
Batting:
2B: Brumfield, Connor 1 ; Lavy, Zach 1
RBI: Brumfield, Connor 3 ; Howard, Ryan 2 ; Ring, Jake 1 ; Bond, Brett 1 ; Sharp, Brian 2 ; Nelson, Ian 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Brumfield, Connor 1 ; Bond, Brett 1 ; Lavy, Zach 3 ; Harris, Trey 3 ; Sharp, Brian 4
HBP: Brumfield, Connor 1 ; Ring, Jake 1 ; Harris, Trey 1
