October 18, 1998

COLUMBIA,Mo.- The Missouri baseball Fall World Series may end a little earlier than Head Coach Tim Jamieson would like. The Tigers took a 3-0 lead in the best of seven games on Sunday afternoon with a 10-2 victory over the Bengals. The Tigers will go for the sweep on Monday night at 7:00 p.m. at Simmons Field.

The Tigers jumped on Bengals starting pitcher Mike Weiss early. Weiss walked Nick Wilfong to start the game. Dustin Barnes then doubled home Wilfong to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. One out later, Barnes came home on an RBI single by Jake Epstein (3-for-4, 2 RBI). The Tigers added two more runs off of Weiss in the second inning when Aaron Wilson (4-for-5, 5 RBI) singled home two runs with the bases loaded.

After the Bengals cut the lead to 4-1, their pitching problems continued in the fourth inning. Wilfong started the inning with a bunt single. Wilson then struck again with a two-run home run over the center field wall, giving him 9 RBI in the last two games. Epstein followed Wilson with a solo homer, his second of the series, making it 7-1.

Ralph McCasland pitched six strong innings for the Tigers to pick up his second win in two days. After pitching just 0.2 of an inning on Friday, McCasland started Sunday surrendering just two runs on three hits. Freshman Ryan Stegall connected in the sixth inning off of McCasland for his second home run of the series but it was not enough for the Bengals.