@MizzouBaseball Earns 5-2 Win in Series Opener vs. Northeastern

Friday, February 23

Fort Myers, Fla.

5:30 p.m. (CT)

University of Missouri

4-1

Northeastern

2-2

Northeastern

Mizzou

@MizzouBaseball Earns 5-2 Win in Series Opener vs. Northeastern

2/23/2018 8:49:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Montes De Oca shines over 6.1 innings, earning his first win of the season

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Mizzou RS junior righty Bryce Montes De Oca (Lawrence, Kan.) pitched Mizzou Baseball to a 5-2 win over Northeastern Friday night (Feb. 23) in the opening contest of a four-game set at City of Palms Park. Montes De Oca was masterful in the second-longest outing in his career, going 6.1 innings while allowing just one run on four hits. He finished just one strikeout shy of his career-high with eight and did not walk a batter, marking his first career start without issuing a free pass.

Mizzou moves to 4-1 on the season while Northeastern falls to 2-2. Mizzou is now 10-3 all-time in games played at City of Palms Park, the former spring training home of the Boston Red Sox.

TURNING POINT

Mizzou got a two-out, two-run double from LF Zach Hanna (Shawnee, Kan.) in the bottom of the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead. From that point, it was all Montes De Oca, who ran into just a shred of trouble in the fifth inning. After losing his no-hit bid on a bad-hop ground ball to second base, he then allowed another hit to put two men on with one out. But Montes De Oca got a lineout to second and a 6-3 putout to escape the jam.

Northeastern got two men on in the seventh, ending Montes De Oca's day, but Mizzou reliever Nile Ball (Decatur, Ga.) induced a 6-4-3 double play to escape the inning. He pitched the final 2.2 innings, earning his first career save while allowing just one unearned run on two hits. He pitched around a pair of ninth-inning errors.

Senior RF Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) had a big two-out, two-run double to add insurance in the bottom of the eighth inning, allowing Ball some cushion to pitch around the errors.

QUOTING MIZZOU

Head Coach Steve Bieser:
Opening Statement…
"Really good ball game. We've got a team over there (Northeastern) that can really swing the bats and I thought our pitchers did a good job of going to contact. Even whenever they put a few balls in play hard, we kept coming back to contact and our defense did a really good job."

On two-out hitting…
"Well we did it several times. One of our themes this year is that when we go down with two quick outs in an inning, we want that third guy to bear down and have a good at-bat. Matt Berler did it twice tonight, we had another one where we had two quick outs and Brett Bond extending an inning. That makes it tough on an opposing pitching staff. Then to see the clutch two-out RBIs that we had tonight – a really big blow by Trey there in that last inning obviously."

On Montes De Oca…
"For me, seeing Bryce – that's as well as he's thrown since I can remember. Just being able to use his pitches and he still had plenty left there at the end of the game. His arm strength was still phenomenal at the end. Just did an outstanding job all night long, keeping their hitters off balance. That's a really good hitting team."

TOP TIGERS

RS junior RHP Bryce Montes De Oca was the story Friday night, going 6.1 innings, allowing just one run (earned) on four hits with eight strikeouts, one off his career high. He walked zero batters in the outing, marking just the fourth time in 24 career appearances that he did not walk a batter. Two of the other three were 0.1 innings as Friday marked his longest career outing without issuing a free pass. His 6.1 innings are the second-most in his career.
Junior LF Zach Hanna had a two-run double in the bottom of the first inning, his second of the season, driving in a pair. He now has six RBI on the season.
Senior RF Trey Harris extended his hitting streak to five games with a two-run double in the ninth. He also walked, was hit by a pitch and scored a run.
Junior RHP Nile Ball earned his first Division I save, pitching the final 2.2 innings, allowing just two hits and an unearned run.

NOTES

Mizzou now leads the all-time series with Northeastern, 1-0.
Mizzou moves to 10-3 all-time in games played at City of Palms Park.
Mizzou is now 14-4 in games played in Florida during the first two weeks of the season over the last two-plus seasons.
Mizzou is now 22-11 in games away from home under second-year head coach Steve Bieser.
Mizzou scored in the first inning for the second time this season. Mizzou is 4-0 when scoring first this season.
Senior 2B Matt Berler hit his first career triple in the second inning.
Junior 3B Brian Sharp hit his first double of the season Friday.
Senior RF Trey Harris and sophomore 1B Kameron Misner have each reached base in all five games this season. Harris walked, was hit by a pitch and doubled in a run to extend his hitting streak to five games. Misner was hit by a pitch in the first and singled in the seventh.

UP NEXT

Mizzou will resume the series with Northeastern Saturday, playing a doubleheader beginning at noon (CT). The games will be played at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Fla., and air on KTGR. 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 (Mizzou Baseball) and Instagram (missouri_baseball).