CARY, N.C. - In cold conditions at the USA Baseball Complex, Mizzou baseball defeated Iona, 6-3, in game three of a four-game series on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 14). Freshman righty Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) earned his first career win after pitching 6.0 innings, allowing seven hits, no walks with five strikeouts and just three earned runs. Junior reliever Breckin Williams (Oronogo, Mo.) picked up his second save of the season, pitching in his third consecutive game. He pitched a shutout ninth, working around an infield hit while picking up a strikeout. Mizzou is now 3-0 for the first time since the 2008 season.
Offensively, the Tigers scored a season-high six runs on 11 hits, also its most of the season. Mizzou scored four runs over the first two innings, including a three-spot in the first and then added two more insurance runs in the eighth inning to seal the win.
Houck was very efficient in the first, working around a hit for a 13-pitch inning as he fanned one batter. The Tiger bats then immediately gave him a lead. Continuing his fine play, Brett Peel (St. Charles, Mo.) stole a pair of bases after drawing a walk to end up at third base. He was driven in on an RBI triple to right field by Josh Lester (Columbus, Ga.) and then Lester scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.), giving Mizzou a 2-0 lead.
But that wasn't all the Tigers got in the first. Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.) reached on an error to continue the threat. He blooped a ball and it fell as the shortstop and second baseman of Iona collided. Senior Logan Pearson (Bentonville, Ark.) then drove him in to give Mizzou a 3-0 lead after one inning
After being spotted a 3-0 lead, Houck came out in the second and allowed a pair of hits to open the frame. But he got a huge strikeout and a groundout and got within one strike of pitching out of the jam. But a passed ball led the Gaels' first run and they tacked on another run with a two-out RBI single to right field.
Case Munson (St. Charles, Mo.) led off the second with a triple and was driven in on an RBI groundout by Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.). Iona added another run on a sacrifice fly in the third to pull within one at 4-3 and it stayed that way until the Tigers added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh. Jake Ivory (St. Charles, Mo.) roped a bases-loaded single to score the first before his high school teammate Case Munson (St. Charles, Mo.) followed with a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat to give Mizzou a 6-3 lead heading into the eighth.
Reliever Andrew Schwaab (St. Charles, Mo.), who pitched the top half of the seventh in relief of Houck, came back on to pitch the eighth with a three-run lead. He was lights out and that made way for Williams to come in and pick up his second save of the season, pitching a shutout ninth, tallying a strikeout and working around a one-out, infield hit. He now has a pair of saves and a win while pitching the ninth in all three games for Mizzou this season. His two saves match his total from a season ago.
Game two of Saturday's doubleheader will be at 1 p.m. (CT) at the USA Baseball Complex and junior righty Alec Rash (Adel, Iowa) will get the start. For all the latest on Mizzou baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MizzouBaseball.