March 26, 2003
NORMAL, Ill. -
The University of Missouri baseball team continued their winning streak with their fifth consecutive win, beating the Illinois State Redbirds, 4-3 at Redbird Field in Bloomington, Illinois. The win improves the Tigers record to 17-8 (3-3 Big 12) on the season. The Redbirds drop to 7-9.
The Redbirds jumped ahead first with a run in the third. With the bases loaded the redbirds only managed one run when Jeremy Accardo scored on a fielders choice to make the score 1-0.
The Redbirds added two more when leadoff hitter Jeremy Pickrel hit his third home run of the season in the fifth. Pickrel's two-run opposite field shot over the left field fence made the score 3-0 in favor of the Redbirds.
The Tigers tied the score up with a Cody Ehlers three-run shot to center. The home run by Ehlers is his fourth of the year as he knocked in Ryan Rallo and Adam Garrett.
In the eighth the Tigers took the lead with a Brad Flanders solo shot to leftfield, making the score 4-3. The shot was Flanders fourth of the year. The Tigers had a chance to add more, with the two men on and two out, Tyler Williams was robbed of the rbi opportunity when left fielder Jay Molina made and acrobatic catch before running into the left field fence, to end the threat and the inning.
Ehlers shutdown the Redbird bats throwing 2.1 innings of shutout ball to pick up first career win. Sophomore Travis Wendte pitched one inning of shutout ball to pick up his fifth save of the season.
The Tigers return to action this weekend when they travel to Manhattan, Kansas to take on conference opponent Kansas State for a three game set, March 28-30.