University of Missouri
Cal Poly
Wild Pitch Wins Wild One for Mizzou
2/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Mizzou 10, Cal Poly 9 |
Time: 2:08 Att.: 312 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| Cal Poly | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 2 |
| Mizzou | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| W - Ross (1-0) | 0.2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| L - Wright (0-1) | 0.1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S - None |
| Hitting Leaders | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | HR |
| CP - Miller | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| MIZ - Brown | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
LOS ANGELES – A bizarre sixth inning closed out Mizzou's season-opening baseball game Friday afternoon at the USC Tournament at Dedeaux Field, as the Tigers plated six runs in between two rain delays for a 10-9, six-inning win over Cal Poly.
Play was delayed for 54 minutes by rain in the middle of the sixth and Mizzou down 9-4, and halted again at 4:45 p.m. PT following a freak accident in the Cal Poly dugout involving an errant bat that struck a Mustang. Rain resumed during that delay, and the game was called due to the rain at 6:00 p.m. PT.
In between the two delays, Mizzou roared back thanks to five hits, a key error and a wild pitch. Sophomore SS Eric Garcia (Pflugerville, Texas / Hendrickson) started off with a single, advanced on a balk and scored on a single by junior 2B Conner Mach (Chesterfield, Mo. / Parkway West), who promptly stole second himself. Sophomore RF Blake Brown (Normal, Ill. / West), sophomore CF Brannon Champagne (St. Charles, Mo. / West HS) had RBI singles, the latter to load the bases with two out. Senior DH Jonah Schmidt (St. Louis, Mo. / Chaminade Prep) appeared to end the inning on a bouncer to short, but CP 1B Tim Wise couldn't pick the throw, and Santo and Brown scored to tie the game. Champagne then scored the winning run on a wild pitch by Eugene Wright (0-1).
Freshman Dusty Ross (Iowa Park, Texas / Iowa Park HS / Vernon College) earned the win for Mizzou (1-0) by getting the final two outs of the sixth.
Both teams wasted no time getting on the board. Cal Poly's first two hitters smacked doubles to the wall off Tiger junior-college transfer Matt Stites (Festus, Mo./Festus HS/Jefferson College), and SS Mike Miller drove CF Bobby Crocker to put the Mustangs up, 1-0. The Tigers countered in the bottom half with Schmidt on second after a two-out fielder's choice and a stolen base. Mach then drilled a 2-2 pitch to the wall in right-center to tie the game.
Stites settled down over the next 3.1 innings, retiring the next 10 Cal Poly batters to keep Mizzou in the game. Mustang 2B Matt Jensen broke the streak with a 1-out bloop to right, then advanced to third when David Armendariz' roller up the middle snuck under Garcia's glove at short. Cal Poly then took a 3-1 lead with DJ Gentile doubled to right-center.
The Mustangs added another two-out run in the fifth, but the Tigers chased CP starter Steven Fischback during the bottom half to tie the game at four. With rain – forecast for the first two days of the tournament – beginning to fall, sophomore 1B Dane Opel (Edwardsville, Ill. / Edwardsville) laced a single past RF Mitch Haniger for a two-base error. Junior Ryan Gebhart (Waco, Texas / Midway) walked, and advanced to third on a Brown single up the middle to plate Opel. Senior Jesse Santo (Little Falls, N.J. / Passaic Valley HS / East Okla. State) then drove Gebhart in on a single through the left side, and Brown tied the game on Champagne's grounder to third.
Cal Poly struck back in the top of the sixth. With one out and runners at the corners, senior LHP Kelly Fick (Linn, Mo. / Helias) fielded a sacrifice attempt and successfully caught Gentile in a rundown at third. Yet umpires ruled Santo obstructed Gentile in the process and awarded Cal Poly the run as a result. The miscue opened the floodgates for three more hits and a walk to plate five unearned runs before Mizzou's rally.
The readjusted schedule will bring Mizzou back to the field vs. host USC at 10 a.m. PT (Noon CT), and the Tigers will close play Sunday at the same time vs. North Carolina.Because of the prospect of additional inclement weather, stay tuned to mutigers.com. For the most current updates, follow us on Twitter at @mutigersdotcom.
