CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Mizzou baseball got homers from Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) and Case Munson (St. Charles, Mo.) and a sensational start from freshman Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) in a 5-1 win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Saturday night (Feb. 21) at Whataburger Field. The win improves the Tigers to 6-1 on the season and 2-1 in this weekend's Kleberg Bank College Classic. The Tigers are 6-1 for the first time since 2004.
Houck went 6.2 innings, allowing just three hits and one earned run, a solo homer off the top of the wall. He struck out five and walked just one, earning his second win of the season. Mizzou scored two runs in the first on a Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) double and then got a solo homer from Bond in the fourth and two-run shot from Munson in the seventh. Junior righty Breckin Williams (Oronogo, Mo.) earned his third save of the season.
"I am really happy with how we played. We played really good defense again, got some timely hits and pitched really well," head coach Tim Jamieson said on KTGR following the game. "Tanner got us into the seventh inning and that's all we really ask him to do. With the depth of our bullpen, that puts us in a good spot to win a game."
After waiting until the ninth inning to get the scoring started in Friday's 2-0 win over Sam Houston State, Mizzou was much quicker to get some runs on the board on Saturday. Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) got things started after he reached base to lead off the game after getting hit by a pitch. Brett Peel (St. Charles, Mo.) then roped a full-count pitch for a double, but Ring had to stay at third after not getting a great read on the ball. But Howard drove in both runs with a double, giving Mizzou a 2-0 lead after the top of the first.
One day removed from playing the role of hero with a walk-off homer against Sam Houston State, Bond hit his second homer of the season and second in as many days in the top of the fourth. This time it was a solo shot to center field, giving Mizzou a 3-0 lead, behind a red-hot Houck.
Houck sat down the first nine batters he faced before hitting an Islander batter to open the fourth inning. But the freshman worked around that hit batter and a walk to send the game to the top of the fifth with the Tigers leading, 3-0.
Houck settled back in as he retired the side in the bottom of the fifth inning. That was part of a streak in which Houck sat down eight in a row before an infield single broke that streak. But he worked around that and got the game through six innings with Mizzou still in control.
Houck got insurance in the top of the seventh on a two-out, two-run homer by Munson, his second career homer and first since 2013 at Vanderbilt. That gave Mizzou a 5-0 lead as the game moved to the bottom of the seventh. Corpus Christi got a solo homer from Kyle Danford to break up the shutout for Houck and cutting the lead to 5-1. But Houck rebounded and got a fly-out to center and a groundout before a two-out single ended his day. Austin Tribby (Springfield, Mo.) then got the final out of the seventh, preserving the 5-1 lead headed to the eighth.
Tribby then retired the first two batters he faced in the eighth inning before allowing a two-out hit and a walk, giving way to closer Breckin Williams (Oronogo, Mo.), who got a groundout off the bat of Danford to send the game to the ninth. Williams, in line for his third save of the year, pitched an uneventful ninth to seal the win.
Mizzou will close the Kelberg Bank College Classic tomorrow at 11 a.m. against Purdue. Junior righty Alec Rash (Adel, Iowa) will get the start for the Tigers. For all the latest on Mizzou baseball, stay tuned to MUTIgers.com and follow the team on twitter @MizzouBaseball.