Ryan Howard’s Walk-Off Homer Gives @MizzouBaseball Series Opener

Friday, March 4

Columbia, Mo.

6 p.m.

University of Missouri

9-2

UIC

3-5

UIC

Mizzou

Ryan Howard’s Walk-Off Homer Gives @MizzouBaseball Series Opener

3/4/2016 10:19:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Mizzou Baseball (9-2) got a walk-off, three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning from Preseason All-SEC SS Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) to earn a 7-4 series-opening win over UIC. The Flames rallied from down 4-1 to tie the game in the top of the ninth, but a rally started by back-to-back base hits from a pair of Mizzou freshmen started the rally and Howard ended it with his heroics. He launched a first-pitch fastball into the Mizzou bullpen in left field for his second homer of the season. The win is Mizzou's second walk-off win of the season and first walk-off homer since Josh Lester did so last year on Feb. 28, also against UIC.

Mizzou got a sensational start from senior RHP Reggie McClain (Atlanta, Ga.), who struck out a career-high 11 batters while tossing 7.2 innings, allowing three earned runs. He had his streak of innings without allowing an earned run halted at 22.1 to open the season, which was the same mark he had a season ago, coincidentally also ended by UIC.

Mizzou's offensive charge was led by junior CF Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) who turned in his team-leading second three-hit game, including a big insurance RBI single with two outs in the seventh. That moved his averaged to .462 when hitting with two outs this season. His three hits behind Howard were a key reason why UIC elected to pitch to Howard with runners on the corners and no outs in the bottom of the ninth. Ring also stole a pair of bases, moving his season total to nine, surpassing his 2015 stolen base count.

Howard was sensational as well with a homer and double, three runs and three RBI. Sophomore 3B Shane Benes (Town & Country, Mo.) had an RBI single in the first and Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) added an RBI in the third.

UIC threatened in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, getting to McClain the sixth for a run and two more in the eighth inning. McClain picked up strikeout No. 11 with one out and the bases loaded in the eighth inning and that was his final out. He issued a bases loaded walk to the next batter to cut the lead to 4-2. An infield hit then scratched across another run, but Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.) pitched Mizzou out of the jam, preserving the 4-3 lead.

Mizzou brought in closer Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) for the save in the ninth and he got the first two batters in order before back-to-back hits put runners on the corners with two outs. He then balked on an attempted double-steal to bring in the tying run.

But Mizzou rallied in its half of the ninth. Freshman 2B Ian Nelson (Lake St. Louis, Mo.) led off the frame with a single and SEC Freshman of the Week Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) following with a single into left field. That set up Howard's at-bat as he roped a no-doubter off the back wall in the Mizzou bullpen on a first-pitch fast ball.

Mizzou and UIC will play a doubleheader tomorrow beginning at 1 p.m. 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…
"I'm glad we found a way to win because it was a game that we felt a little snake-bit."

On McClain's start…
"He was great. He got us into the eighth inning and I thought he might have gotten a little tired there at the end and started elevating pitches. But the only time they got stuff going was when they hit-and-ran and they got the leadoff guy on. He made big pitches when he had to. In the eighth inning, he struck out a guy with a runner on third base and unfortunately walked the next guy but I thought he really pitched well. "

On the bullpen getting out of the jam in the eighth…
"You know, Cole did a good job – made four good pitches and got an infield hit. But he got the last guy out on a weak ground ball. Sharp pitched well. He did everything right. He made one bad pitch and that was the curve ball to the hitter with two outs, base hit to left. But he pitched well. Just a little bit of inexperience on the double steal they did. But the thing he did was he got the next guy out and that gave us a chance to only have to score one run in the ninth inning to win."

On the walk-off homer …
"It's exciting. Right there a base hit would have been great. But the home run put a little more emphasis on it and for Ryan to be able to do that too, that was really big for him to break out that way."

SS Ryan Howard

On his walk-off homer…
"Makes it a lot easier when those guys get on. It was big time. I was talking to (hitting coach Hunter Mense), Ring got three hits behind me so that makes them have to throw to me. I stepped in there. It helped seeing him before – I saw the at-bat before and I knew what his fastball was like and that was my plan to just get something over the plate early and it worked out."

On whether he was sitting fastball…
"Yeah. You know I always try to, unless the pitcher is really doing something to throw me off, to sit fastball and try to hit something up the middle. I got the barrel out on that one."

On coming back after the balk in the ninth inning…
"I think it shows the type of guys that we have on our team. We got a lot of guys who are winners on our team and right when that happened, personally I know the rest of our team too, we knew we were going to win. It was just finding a way to do it, so it worked out."

SP Reggie McClain

On his start…
"I felt good. I was controlling the zone for the most part. My slider is my third pitch and it really came through for me today. I had a lot of swing-and-misses on it and a lot of strikeouts on it. I just competed out there."

Postgame Notes

Mizzou now leads the all-time series with UIC, 8-3, and has won five in a row.
Mizzou has won seven consecutive games for the first time since the 2012 season.
Ryan Howard's walk-off home run was the first for a Tiger since Josh Lester vs. UIC on 2/28/15.
Friday was Ryan Howard's second multi-hit game in his last three contests.
Howard's home run was the first in five games for a Mizzou player or opponent.
This was the third consecutive game for the Tigers to steal multiple bases. They have 12 stolen bases in their last four games after starting the season with 10 stolen bases in 7 games.
This was the second consecutive game for Brumfield to lead off with a walk.
This was the second consecutive game for Mizzou to score in the first inning. They are now outscoring opponents 7-2 in the first inning.
Jake Ring now has nine stolen bases on the season in 38 at bats, surpassing his 2015 total in 220 at bats.
Reggie McClain retired the first 11 batters he faced, striking out 5.
Reggie McClain got a strikeout in each inning he pitched except for the 5^th.
Reggie McClain set his career-high for strikeouts in a game with 11. The last time any Tigers pitcher struck out 10 batters in a game was McClain 2/28/2015 against UIC. He now has 101 career strikeouts.
Reggie McClain allowed an earned run for the first time on the season, ending his streak at 22.1 innings pitched for the second consecutive season. UIC also ended his streak last season.
Jake Ring got his fourth multi-hit games of the season, which leads the team. It was his second three-hit game of the season.
Shane Benes extended his career-high hit streak to five games. Jake Ring increased his reached-base streak to 11, also a career-high.
This was Mizzou's eighth consecutive game with at least 5 hits.
This was Mizzou's sixth consecutive game with as many or more hits than their opponent.
Jake Ring got an RBI for the fifth time in his last six games. It was his second two-out RBI of the season. He is hitting a team-best .462 with two outs on the season.
Brian Sharp made the sixth relief appearance of his career. He has at least one strikeout in each of his appearances. He allowed his first earned run of the year in 9.1 innings pitched.
Brett Bond's 12 putouts ties Jack Klages (2/27/2016 vs. Hofstra) for the most by a Tiger this season.
The Tigers are now 8-0 in games where they scored the first run. They are also now 8-0 in games where they led after the 7^th inning.