Tigers take series with Auburn
Missouri (20-14, 4-8 SEC) won its second straight SEC series defeating Auburn (15-17, 3-9) in Saturday afternoon’s 4-3 victory.
“It’s nice to win a SEC series at home to take advantage of being at home,” Head Coach Tim Jamieson said. “I thought we played really well today, would have liked to hit a little bit better but I thought we played good defense and really got good pitching.”
Freshman Michael Plassmeyer (3-2, 4.22 ERA) earned his third win of the season going five and two-thirds scoreless innings striking out five and only allowed three hits. Plassmeyer started off the game with four consecutive strikeouts.
“I came in with the approach to fill up the zone and throw strikes,” Plassmeyer said. “Letting them put the ball in play and let the defense make the play.”
In back-to-back SEC starts, Plassmeyer has gained confidence in each outing tossing up zeros in each start.
“He was even better today than he was against Arkansas,” Jamieson said. “He made better pitches against a better offensive team than what we had against Arkansas.”
Jake Ring (2-4, run) singled in the first inning and proceeded to swipe his 20th stolen base of the season which leads the SEC. Zach Lavy (1-4, RBI) hit a single scoring Ring (2-4, run). Lavy leads the team with 31 RBIs. Mizzou has now scored a run in the first inning in four consecutive games.
“No question that it helps,” Jamieson said. “The percentages will tell you that the team that scores first wins about 70 to 80 percent of the time and that’s something that’s huge for us. It lets everybody relax a little bit.”
Brett Bond (1-3, run, two RBIs) launched his fourth home run of the year giving the Tigers a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Bond is now tied for the team lead in home runs with Shane Benes.
“It felt good, I needed that,” Bond said. “You know, I’ve been struggling a little bit so I’m just trying to get everything back and get it going.”
The battery of Plassmeyer and Bond has clicked recently in Plassmeyer’s two SEC starts. Bond has seen improvement in all of Plassmeyer’s starts as the season has gone on.
“He has came out and shown that he can pitch,” Bond said. “He came in with a good attitude that he is going to throw strikes and come in there and go right after them.”
Brian Sharp closed the game for Mizzou. Entering the game with a 4-3 lead, Sharp struck out the two batters he faced to strand runners on first and second earning him his fifth save of the season.
“That was huge,” Jamieson said. “We were really hoping for a double play from the nine-hole hitter but he made great pitches.”
Missouri now leads the all-time series with Auburn 10-4. Mizzou heads to Springfield on Tuesday to face in-state rival Missouri State.