University of Missouri
Kansas State
Tigers Extend Winning Streak to Eleven
3/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 26, 2005
MANHATTAN, Kan. - - The Missouri Baseball team moved to 2-0 in the Big 12 Conference with a 6-5 win over Kansas State on Saturday in Manhattan, Kan. It was the 11th straight win for Missouri and gives the Tigers the series victory.
With the score tied at four in the seventh inning, Kansas State's David Baker doubled to lead off the bottom of the seventh. He would advance to third on a sacrifice bunt by Eli Rumler and scored the go-ahead run on a single by Terry Blunt.
The lead was short-lived for KSU, as Missouri scored twice to take the lead in the top of the eighth. Junior Bryson LeBlanc pinch-hit and walked to lead off the inning. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Gary Arndt and went to third on a single by sophomore Trevor Helms. Junior Derek Chambers followed with a single to drive in LeBlanc with the tying run.
Sophomore John McKee followed Chambers and grounded out to the first baseman. However, on the play, Helms scored from second base, while Chambers was caught in a rundown between first and second.
Juniors Andrew Johnston and Taylor Parker closed down any Wildcat comeback attempt. Johnston did not allow a run in two innings and recorded his second win of the season. Parker pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his second save in the series and the third of the year.
Sophomore Nathan Culp started the game for MU and went six innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits and striking out four.
The Tigers fell behind for the first time in the series as Kansas State scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. A pair of hit batters and two passed balls led to the two runs in the inning, both of which were unearned.
Mizzou (19-4, 2-0 Big 12) would take the lead with a four-run top of the fourth inning. Errors made by the Wildcats on back-to-back at-bats led to three of the four runs scored being unearned. Two runs scored on an error by the KSU first baseman.
A third run would score on an error by the Wildcat pitcher. The final run of the inning scored on an RBI single by junior Derek Chambers. Chambers extended his hitting streak to eight with the hit.
Kansas State (13-9, 1-4 Big 12) answered with two runs on a pair of RBI hits in the bottom of the fourth to tie the score at four. It stayed a 4-4 game until the bottom of the seventh inning.
The final game of the three-game series will get underway at 1 p.m. on Sunday in Manhattan. Sunday's game, along with all of MU's games, can be heard on KTGR 1580 AM in Columbia and on the World Wide Web at www.ktgr.com.
