@MizzouBaseball Sweeps Tennessee to Cap 4-0 Week

Sunday, May 1

Columbia, Mo.

11:30 a.m.

University of Missouri

24-21, 7-14

Tennessee

24-21, 6-15

Tennessee

Mizzou

5/1/2016 3:05:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A strong day at the plate for Mizzou Baseball [23-21, 6-14] gave the team a victory over Tennessee, 8-3, to complete the three-game sweep Sunday (May 1) at Taylor Stadium. Freshman LHP Michael Plassmeyer (St. Louis, Mo.) earned his fourth win of the season thanks to an impressive offensive performance that saw seven batters score a run, including two on a long fifth-inning home run by senior 1B Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.).

Plassmeyer had a solid day on the mound, allowing only 2 earned runs in 5.1 innings pitched. Redshirt sophomore Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.) and senior LHP Austin Tribby (Springfield, Mo.) finished off the game without allowing another run. Tribby was particularly effective, striking out four batters in 2.0 innings pitched.

Tennessee gained a 1-0 lead on a third inning sac fly, but Mizzou responded quickly by taking the lead on a bases loaded, two-RBI single in the fourth inning from freshman 3B Ian Nelson (Lake St. Louis, Mo.). Junior RF Kirby McGuire (Round Rock, Texas) knocked in a sac fly before the Lavy home run and a three-run outburst in the sixth inning capped off Mizzou's strong day at the plate. SS Ryan Howard added a two-run single in the sixth inning as part of a three-run inning as Mizzou put the game away thanks to the strong bullpen work by Bartlett and Tribby.

Mizzou will play Illinois for one game on Tuesday, May 3, at 6 p.m. in Sauget, Ill., at GCS Ballpark. For all the latest on all things Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team @MizzouBaseball and like the team on Facebook and Instagram (Mizzou Baseball).

Hear From Mizzou
Head Coach Tim Jamieson

On the reasons why the sweep is so important…
"It's big for so many reason. The most apparent one is just the record overall and in addition coming into the week under .500 staring at Missouri State and three games against Tennessee – the season could go either direction. A lot of credit to our guys for recognizing that and playing probably the best week of baseball we have played in quite a while. It's huge for us because now there is a lot more to play for."

Freshman LHP Michael Plassmeyer

On his performance…
"I felt like I was commanding three pitches pretty well/ The change-up was a little low in the zone. I felt good. Then we got a good lead and just kept it going and bounced back and got the win."

On getting the sweep.…
"That was big. Especially against Tennessee – we had an even record with them heading into the game so it put us one ahead of them and showed that we are a little bit better than them.."

Postgame Notes

Brett Bond had two hits for the second consecutive game. It was his ninth multi-hit game of the season.
Trey Harris stole his 10^th base of the season, joining Jake Ring and Ryan Howard as the only Mizzou players with at least that many on the season
Ian Nelson's two-run single was his first hit with the bases loaded this season in sic at-bats.
Ryan Howard got a hit for the fifth consecutive game, getting 10 hits in that span. It was also his fifth consecutive game scoring a run, with 8 in that period.
Lavy's fifth inning home run gave him his SEC-leading 30^th extra base hit. He now has 46 RBI, the Mizzou player since Brett Nicholas in 2010 (64). He has driven in 10 RBI in the past five games and has reached base in 17 consecutive games.
Ryan Howard got his 14^th multi-hit game and fifth multi-RBI game of the season.
The victory gave Mizzou its first 3-game sweep since defeating Georgia March 14^th, 2015. That was also the team's last conference sweep.
Plassmeyer earned his 4^th victory of the season, tied with Tanner Houck and Reggie McClain for the team lead.
Jake Ring stole his SEC-leading 23^rd base of the season, the most for a Mizzou player since Torrey Tyson 1998.
Mizzou is now 5-0 with Brumfield at 2B and Nelson at 3B.