@MizzouBaseball Drops Season Opener to Eastern Michigan, 6-2

Friday, February 17

Fort Myers, Fla.

6:00 PM

University of Missouri

0-1

Eastern Michigan

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Eastern Michigan

Mizzou

@MizzouBaseball Drops Season Opener to Eastern Michigan, 6-2

2/17/2017 9:02:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Two-out hits plague Tigers in season opener

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Mizzou Baseball dropped its season opener to Eastern Michigan, 6-2, on Friday night at City of Palms Park. Mizzou junior RHP Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) took the loss after going 5.2 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits with nine strikeouts and two walks. Four of the five runs allowed by Houck came with two outs, one on a passed ball and three on two-out hits. Eastern Michigan's Brent Mattson earned the win, going 5.0 innings, scattering seven hits with two runs (both earned).

Junior catcher Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) drove in Mizzou's two runs with a two-out, two-run single in the first. Freshman second baseman Chris Cornelius (St. Louis, Mo.) tallied his first collegiate hits with a 3-for-5 performance, including a double in the first inning to set up Bond's RBIs. In all, Mizzou left 12 men on base in the loss while the Eagles left just five, capitalizing nearly all night with runners on base.

Houck was the victim of an error and a passed ball in the first inning. He picked up his third strikeout of the inning following a throwing error that he made trying to hold a runner, but a passed ball allowed the run to score. Houck picked up the rare four-strikeout inning to get out of the frame, but trailed 1-0.

Sophomore Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) led off Mizzou's half of the first frame with a single up the middle and freshman Cornelius tallied his first career hit in the next at-bat, a double to put runners on second and third with no outs. After two outs, junior Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) laced a two-out, two-strike, two-run single through the left side to plate a pair of runs, giving Mizzou a 2-1 lead after one.

Eastern Michigan got to Houck in the third for two hits and a walk, resulting in the Eagles regaining a 3-2 lead. The Eagles used another big two-out hit in the fifth inning to extend the lead to 4-2. They again did the same thing to Houck in the sixth inning, extending the lead to 5-2. That chased Houck in favor of RS junior Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.), who got Mizzou through six on the first pitch he threw.

The Eagles tacked on another sacrifice fly in the seventh to extend the lead as it continued to find holes while Mizzou continued to line out with runners on base. Bartlett was solid, allowing just two hits over 2.1 innings with three strikeouts, but he did allow a run. Junior RHP Nolan Gromacki (Smithville, Mo.) tossed a shutout ninth to give Mizzou a chance to rally in the bottom half of the frame. But nothing came of it as the Tigers fell, 6-2.

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Postgame Notes

Mizzou is now 76-39-2 all-time in season openers.
Despite the loss, Mizzou still leads the all-time series with EMU, 12-5.
Mizzou falls to 6-3 in nine all-time games played at City of Palms Park.
Mizzou had a streak of 26.0 consecutive shutout innings in season openers snapped in the first inning. That streak had dated back to the 2014 season.
Mizzou had six players make their Division I debut on Friday – freshman 2B Chris Cornelius, junior 3B Alex Samples, junior SS Robbie Glendinning, freshman LF Kameron Misner, freshman DH A.J. Lewis and junior C Nelson Mompierre.
Cornelius saw his first career hit go for extra bases with a double in his first career at-bat in the bottom of the first inning. He also tallied his first career multi-hit game Friday, leading the team with three.
In fact, Mizzou got two extra-base hits in the game Friday, both from freshmen, as AJ Lewis hit his first career double in the eighth inning.
Houck tallied nine strikeouts on Friday, his most since fanning 10 vs. Kentucky on May 19 of last season. That moves him 12 strikeouts away from moving into Mizzou's all-time career top 10 in strikeouts.
Houck also tallied the rare four-strikeout inning in the first.