University of Missouri
Texas A&M
Culp, Tigers Down Aggies in Big 12 Opener
3/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 17, 2006
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Mizzou opened up Big 12 Conference play with a 3-1 win over Texas A&M in College Station, Texas on Friday night to win its conference opener for the second season in a row. Junior Nathan Culp matched a career high with eight strikeouts to record his fifth victory of the year.
Culp started the game when Missouri's scheduled starter, junior Max Scherzer, was scratched because of tightness in his bicep. Culp allowed just one run, which was an unearned run, on four hits in 7.2 innings pitched. He faced the minimum in six of the first seven innings and lowered his ERA to 1.60.
Scherzer's return will be a day-to-day decision.
Missouri has won four straight over the Aggies and recorded its first win in College Station since 2002, when it took two games of a three-game series.
Junior Evan Frey extended his hitting streak to six games with a single up the middle on the second pitch of the ballgame. Senior Zane Taylor followed with a single, sending Frey to third. Frey would then score the game's first run on a sacrifice fly by the third batter of the game, sophomore Jacob Priday.
Frey singled three times in the game, finishing 3-for-5 with one RBI and a run scored.
The Tigers opened the second inning just as it did the first, with two singles as sophomore Brock Bond and senior Trevor Helms each reached with base hits. Bond would score on a ground out by junior Gary Arndt and Helms scored when Frey singled to right for his second hit of the game.
Texas A&M's Parker Dalton doubled in the fourth inning for the first Aggie hit of the game after Culp had retired the first 10 batters he faced. Later in the inning Dalton scored Texas A&M's only run of the game as he crossed the plate on a Tiger error on what should have been the final out of the inning.
Senior Taylor Parker pitched the final 1.1 innings to get his second save of the season. It was the ninth save of his career, which moved him into a tie for ninth on Mizzou's all-time saves list.
"I thought the whole team played well tonight," Head Coach Tim Jamieson said. "We played good defense, pitched well and swung the bats well. Up and down the lineup, we had good at-bats and I was pleased with our approach all night. It's good to win a tight one like this. That should help us down the road."
The second game of the series is 7 p.m. on Saturday and the series finale at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The games can be heard on KTGR 1580-AM in Columbia and on the World Wide Web at KTGR.com.
