April 20, 2003
WACO, Texas. - - Junior RHP Derek Roper (Elk City, Okla.) scattered six hits and four runs over a career-long 7+ innings, and No. 23 Missouri took advantage of several Baylor miscues for a 12-8 win over the No. 16 Bears at Baylor Ballpark on Sunday.
The win also gave the Tigers (27-12, 11-6 Big 12) its second straight series win over Baylor, and fourth of six in the league this season. Mizzou has moved into fourth place in the Big 12 standings, and is just a half-game out of third.
In stark contrast of the first two games of the series, the pitchers took control of two of the league's best hitting teams in the early innings. Neither team had two runners reach base in the same inning until Baylor (27-16, 9-9) did so in the bottom of the fourth, yet Roper (4-1) struck out the side to keep the game scoreless through four.
Roper, who registered his first Big 12 win of the season, and first overall since March 19 against Illinois State, retired the side in order in four of his seven innings.
Mizzou went up 3-0 in the fifth when junior RF Kyle Johnson (Omaha, Neb.) led off with a singe to left off Zane Carlson (1-4) and stole second. With one out, junior 2B Jeremy Hernandez (Aptos, Calif.,) singled to center to score Johnson. Three batters later, Hernandez and freshman LF Tyler Williams (Delta, British Columbia) scored when Trey Webb throw widely to first on a two-out at-bat by freshman 3B Zane Taylor (Kirksville, Mo.)
In the sixth, junior C Brad Flanders (Smithville, Mo.) smashed a 2-2 pitch of Trey Taylor that would have landed on Baylor's soccer field either of the previous two days; instead he stood on second with a one-out double.
The Tigers added an unearned run the eighth when two errors by the BU infield and a wild pitch by Jake LaMotta allowed freshman DH James Boone (Clinton, Okla.) to score.
In the bottom of the eighth, Roper gave up a lead off singe and a walk before being pulled for freshman RHP Nick Admire (Lebanon, Mo.), who allowed a two-run double by Josh Ford to make it 7-4. After a Ross Bennett single, Admire struck out Michael Griffin and appeared to get out of the inning on a potential double play grounder to third. Yet Taylor couldn't come up with the ball, allowing Kyle Reynolds to fly out to right for a sacrifice fly and score Ford unearned. Sophomore closer Travis Wendte, (Moore, Okla.) gave up a pinch-hit RBI single to Zach Dillon before getting Paul Witt to force pinch-runner Kevin Sevigny out at second.
In the Missouri ninth, the Tigers pushed across five runs. With one out, junior 1B Cody Ehlers (Stillwater, Okla.) singled through the right side, setting off a string of six straight batters reaching safely: three with singes, two with walks, and one hit batter. The last two came with the bases loaded.
Despite allowing two runs in the ninth, Wendte notched his Big 12 leading eighth save.
"After we lost a couple of games last week that we should have won, to go 3-3 at Nebraska and at Baylor is a great accomplishment for us," Head Coach Tim Jamieson said. "Derek Roper did a great job; after the first two days, it would have been easy for him to get tentative, but he did just what we needed him to do which was keep the ball down. Also, the win suited us today, because we tend to bunt and hit-and-run more that other teams."
Mizzou concludes its 4-game road trip this Tuesday, April 22 with a 7 p.m. contest against Southwest Missouri State at Price Cuter Park in Ozark, Mo. The Tigers return home this weekend for a three-game series against Texas A&M. Several promotions will take place over the weekend highlighted by the retirement of the No. 15 jersey worn by former Tiger stand out Phil Bradley. For ticket information call the MU Ticket Office at 1-800-CAT-PAWS (884-PAWS in Mid-Missouri).