University of Missouri
Stetson
Gibson Strikes out 10 as Tigers Improve to 3-0
2/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 24, 2008
DeLAND, Fla.-- - The Missouri baseball team recorded the 2,000th win in the program's history with a 9-5 defeat of Stetson on Sunday in the final day of the Stetson Invitational in DeLand, Fla. The victory brings the all-time record for Mizzou to 2,000-1,282-20 as it becomes the 35th NCAA program to reach the 2,000-win mark. The Tigers improved to 3-0 on the year, winning their first three games of the season for the second-straight year.
Sophomore Kyle Gibson struck out a career-high 10 batters on Sunday to pick up the win, the ninth of his career. His previous high for strikeouts in a game was eight against Akron on Feb. 24, 2007. The 10 strikeouts are the most by a Mizzou pitcher since Rick Zagone struck out 11 against Kansas State last April.
Gibson struck out the last three batters he faced, as the Hatters loaded the bases to start the bottom of the sixth before Gibson retired the next three on strikeouts to get out of the inning. He allowed two runs on seven hits in his six innings of work.
"Kyle did some special things out there tonight," Head Coach Tim Jamieson said. "He threw strikes and continued to attack. What he did in his last inning, striking out three in a row after loading the bases, was as big league as it gets."
After a scoreless first inning, both team put runs on the board in the second. Missouri built a lead with a five-run top of the second inning. The first three Tigers to the plate in the inning reached on two hit batters and a single by junior Steve Gray. Sophomore Trevor Coleman, who led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch, scored the first run on a wild pitch.
Junior Ryan Lollis then delivered a two-out single that drove in a pair of runs and two more runs scored when sophomore Aaron Senne reached safely on an error by the Hatters.
Stetson got two runs back in the bottom half of the second when Aaron Crittenden connected for a two-run home run, his second of the season.
Senior Jacob Priday hit his first home run of the year to lead off the fifth inning. It was Priday's 34th of his career, putting him just one homer from tying for fifth on the all-time home run list at Missouri. The Tigers scored four times in the fifth, getting a run on a sacrifice fly by senior Lee Fischer and scoring twice on a double off the bat of senior Kurt Calvert.
Priday finished 2-for-5, recording his second-straight two-hit game. Calvert had two RBI on Sunday and has a team-leading six runs driven in after the first three games of the year.
Stetson had the bases loaded with no outs twice, but managed to score just one run. Gibson struck out three-straight batters to get out of the sixth inning without any runs crossing the plate. Then, in the eighth inning, the Hatters scored just one run, before junior Ryan Gargano got a strikeout and two fly outs to end the inning.
The Hatters added a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth to make it a 9-5 final score.
"We were opportunistic, showed good discipline and had some timely hitting," Jamieson said. "We keep finding ways to win. We pitched it well and defended it well enough to win tonight. There is still lot of room for improvement, but it's nice to be 3-0.
With the Stetson Invitational complete, the Tigers will continue the Florida swing of their schedule, taking on Central Florida on Monday in Orlando, Fla. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT). Freshman Kelly Fick is slated to get his first career start on the mound for Mizzou on Monday.
