|
MizzouBaseball Tops Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 2-0, in Home Opener
Mizzou Baseball (8-2)
won its home opener over Arkansas Pine-Bluff (0-8), 2-0, on Wednesday
night (March 2) thanks to a strong start by sophomore RHP Ryan Lee
(Grandview, Mo). The win was the sixth straight victory and the third
shutout of the year for Mizzou, which returned to Taylor Stadium after
going 7-2 during an 11-day road trip in Florida.
Lee
picked up the win, pitching a career high 6.1 innings of shutout
baseball, striking out three and walking one while giving up just four
hits to earn the first victory of his career. He also struck out a
career-high three in the win.
Freshman Brian Sharp
(Liberty, Mo.) led the Mizzou offense with two hits and an RBI, good
for his second career two-hit game. Shane Benes (Town & Country,
Mo.) added a double and a run and Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) and
Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) added the other Mizzou hits.
Harris
put Mizzou on the board in the bottom of the first with his eighth RBI
of the season on a groundout to second base, allowing SEC Freshman of
the Week Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) to score.
Mizzou
got on the board again in the bottom of the fourth inning, after Sharp
drove home Benes on a single to left field. Benes reached base by
doubling down the left field line. He is now tied for the team lead
with three doubles.
RHP Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg,
Ind.) made his team-leading sixth appearance of the season, pitching
1.1 innings with one strikeout and giving up one hit. Bartlett entered
the game with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth.
He only needed just one pitch to get Mizzou out of the jam, forcing a
pop fly to shallow right field. In the seventh inning, Bartlett got one
of his outs by pickoff, his first of the season.
Sharp pitched a
scoreless ninth inning, striking out one without allowing any base
runners, earning his second save of the season in as many opportunities.
Mizzou
begins a four game series with Illinois-Chicago on Friday at Taylor
Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT and can be seen on SEC
Network+. 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
On Ryan Lee’s performance and on how deep into the game he could have pitched…
“Really
just fill up the strike zone and then on how far he could go, a lot of
that is score related and how he is pitching and from a conditioning
standpoint. I mean I know he can get 90 pitches or so. The expectation
was for him to go out there and give us a chance to win.”
On Lee opening the game with 11 consecutive strikes…
“It
helped his confidence. When we’re not scoring runs on the other side,
it’s that much more difficult for a pitcher to keep going out there and
do what he did. He did a good job keeping them off balance. His
breaking stuff got better as the game went along and that really helped
him.”
On the bullpen…
“Good for the most part. Ty came
in there and got a strikeout but then walked the next guy. That’s
something that we can’t have happen. Then Cole did a great job of
getting out of that inning and then getting out of the next inning. And
then Sharp has been that way every time out. They did a good job and we
put up nine zeros, so good combined effort.”
On the offensive execution …
“It’s
frustrating that we give at-bats away. But also we did hit some balls
hard right at some people. So the combination of those two things made
it difficult for us to score runs. Fortunately we didn’t have to score
a lot of runs.”
RHP Ryan Lee
On his performance…
“I
was trying to get in the zone with all of my pitches. I struggled
throwing a lot of balls in the first outing. Getting in the zone
against an aggressive team is a good start.”
On adjustments from his first start to Wednesday’s start…
“Doing
a lot of flat grounds and a couple more bullpens than I usually throw.
I was trying to work my fastball and keep command of that. Once I did,
I felt good coming into this.”
On throwing 11 consecutive strikes to open the game…
“That
was huge. That’s what I was trying to work on so coming out and being
able to do the one thing that I worked on all week boosted my
confidence a lot. I could do it with all my pitches too, so that felt
really good.”
On the defense behind him, specifically 3B Shane Benes…
“Shane
played great defense all day as well as everybody else. Whenever I got
my defense behind me I know that I can work and just let them hit the
ball and my defense will work for me. That’s nice.”
UTIL Brian Sharp
On having a confident approach at the plate…
“Yeah.
The first couple of at-bats in Florida, I didn’t do too well. I was
swinging at a lot of balls and taking strikes. I wanted to be more
aggressive in the zone when I came back and just try to get it going.”
On what he saw from the UAPB starting pitcher…
“He
commanded two pitches. He threw a curve ball and a fastball. His
fastball wasn’t overpowering so I felt like I could maybe sit on one
pitch and then hit the other. Basically I was looking for a fastball
and whenever I saw a curve ball I just tried to keep my hands back and
put a barrel on it.”
On how he attacked the Pine Bluff hitters in the ninth inning…
“I
wanted to get ahead early, fastball or breaking ball. It really didn’t
matter. I wanted to command more than one pitch so I could get the
hitters off balance so they can’t be sitting on one pitch. Just get
ahead early and get them off balance.”
Postgame Notes
- Mizzou now leads the all-time series with Hofstra, 4-1.
- Mizzou has won its three of its four home openers since joining the SEC.
-
Mizzou now has three shutouts on the season. The five hits allowed were
the second-fewest by the Tiger pitching staff this season.
-
Over the last five games, Mizzou’s pitching staff has a minuscule 0.98
ERA and a 39-7 strikeout-walk ratio. Mizzou has surrendered just 32
hits (.193 opponent average) in that span.
-
RHP Ryan Lee earned his first career win in his second career start and
reset career-highs in IP (6.1) and strikeouts (three) while allowing
just four hits.
-
Freshman UTIL Brian Sharp tallied his second career multi-hit game and
his second save of the season. He has a decision in each of Mizzou’s
last two games.
-
Sophomore OF Trey Harris has seven of his eight RBI on the season in
Mizzou’s last five games,
-
Mizzou is on its first six-game winning streak since March 10-17 of
last season when it also won six consecutive games.
-
Sophomore 3B Shane Benes tallied his third double of the season
Wednesday, tying him for the team lead. He now leads the team with five
extra-base hits on the season.
-
Mizzou stole three bases on Wednesday, moving the season total to
19-for-22 and Mizzou has been successful on nine of its last 10 steal
attempts over the last five games.
|
Contact us