University of Missouri
Rider
Tiger Baseball Remains Unbeaten
2/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 20, 2004
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.-- - Behind the bat of senior 1B Cody Ehlers and the arm of junior RHP Erik Dessau, the Missouri baseball team remained undefeated with a 4-2 win over Rider on Friday on day two of the Coastal Carolina Beach Blast in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
It was a quick turnaround for Missouri who defeated Coastal Carolina on Thursday night in an extra inning game that took nearly four hours and had to respond with an early wakeup call on Friday with a 10 a.m. first pitch with Rider.
Missouri got on the board first with as Ehlers doubled in the bottom of the first inning to drive in senior LF Ryan Rallo. Ehlers added a second double in the third inning and hit the Tigers' first home run of the season in the fifth inning. The homer was the 20th of his career and gave MU a 2-1 lead.
Ehlers finished the game 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored and has had at least one hit in each of the Tigers' first five games of the year.
Another run crossed the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning as a Rallo single up the middle drove in sophomore 2B Trevor Helms. Ehlers put a run on the board in the seventh inning after drawing a walk and later scoring on a sacrifice fly by sophomore RF James Boone.
Dessau started on the mound for MU and turned in a second solid start on the season, becoming the first Tiger pitcher to record his second win of the year. He allowed just one run on four hits in seven innings of work. Dessau struck out three and walked one.
Sophomore LHP came on in relief, pitching the final two innings to record his first save of the season.
Mizzou is 5-0 to begin the season for the first time since the 1986 season.
The Tigers will continue play in the Beach Blast at 1 p.m. (Noon central) on Saturday against Coastal Carolina. That game will be a rematch of Thursday's 12-10 extra-inning thriller. All Mizzou baseball games can be heard on the ZRG Radio Network (1580 KTGR in Columbia) and online at www.KTGR.com.
