COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball topped the University of Illinois-Chicago Flames, 7-2, Friday night at Taylor Stadium for its eighth consecutive win, matching the longest winning streak for the Tigers since March 3-17, 2012 when Mizzou won 10 in a row. The 8-1 start for Mizzou marks the best start for the team since 2015 when it started 10-1. Mizzou junior ace Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) picked up his first win of the season, going 6.0 innings while allowing just one unearned runs with seven strikeouts and no walks. He allowed just four hits.

Sophomore Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) paced Mizzou on offense, going 3-for-5 on the night with a RBI. Brumfield extended his hit streak to nine games having tabbed a hit in every game this season. Junior INF Matt Berler (Hoover, Ala.) also fared well on offense, hitting 2-for-3 with his team-leading fifth double of the season.

UIC put a pair of runners on base in the top of the first thanks to a single and an error by shortstop Robbie Glendinning (Scarborough, Australia). The visitors took an early 1-0 lead after a double down the left field line that just snuck past the glove of third baseman Alex Samples (Bridgeport, Texas).

Houck locked in following the unearned run in the first, allowing just four hits in six innings of work while fanning seven batters. Houck earned his first win of the season and the seventh game of his career allowing no earned runs. At one point, he sat down 10 consecutive Flame batters.  

Mizzou plated the tying run in the bottom of the fourth after a pair of walks put two runners on for Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.). The freshman knocked a weak ground ball to second base but a fielding error by the shortstop allowed Samples to notch Mizzou's first run of the game. Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) followed up with a fielder's choice to second allowing Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) to cross the plate. Berler tallied his second hit of the game, a single up the middle, scoring Harris and giving Mizzou the 3-2 lead at the end of four.

UIC threatened in the top of the sixth as Houck plunked a batter to give the Flames a baserunner. However, a spectacular diving play in center by Brumfield and Houck's seventh strikeout of the game closed out the inning for Mizzou.

Bond smacked a bomb to deep center field to extend the Mizzou lead to three in the bottom of the frame. A single by Harris, a hit batter and a walk juiced the bases for Chris Cornelius (St. Louis, Mo.) who recorded his first RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly to center field. Berler crossed the plate after a wild pitch by UIC's Ryan Campbell and Brumfield continued to have a night, beating out an RBI infield single at first base to put Mizzou up 7-1.

The Flames added a run in the top of the seventh off a hit batter but that was all the Mizzou bullpen allowed. The bullpen recorded 22.0 consecutive innings without allowing a run before the solo run in the seventh.  

Mizzou and UIC will face off in game two of the series Saturday afternoon. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. For all the latest on Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter (@MizzouBaseball) and like the team on Facebook and Instagram (Mizzou Baseball and missouri_baseball, respectively).

Potent Quotables

Head Coach Steve Bieser
Opening statement…
"Any time you play well and get a W, it's exciting, so that's what we walk away with today. I thought after the first inning we really settled in and played a solid game."

On when he realized Tanner Houck had his good stuff tonight…
"I think early on we saw the fact that he was commanding his fastball on both sides of the plate. That's what he was struggling with over his last two starts was getting the ball to his glove side. He made some really good pitches to his glove side early and his fastball was going to be really effective today. I was pleased to see that he was commanding the fastball today."

RHP Tanner Houck
On earning his first win of the season tonight…
"Well it felt good to get the monkey off my back. Now I just have to keep rolling from here on. Hopefully help this team get a few more wins."

On the difference between tonight and his first two starts…
"You know, got back here after a long few days on the road, 10 straight days only two days in between, got back and finally looked at some video. They're a great coaching staff obviously and they picked up on some different keys I was doing a little bit different. Worked all week on getting them fixed and now I feel like I'm back rolling."

On the play of his defense behind him…
"Having great defense is always a great saving thing. You can't strike everyone out. I like getting ground balls and getting fly balls and getting quick outs. Having a great defense behind you is huge. It's been one of our focuses here that Coach Bieser is always preaching to always have great defense. Making the plays that you can, throwing to the right base or whatever it is."

Game Notes

• Mizzou's record against UIC improved to 11-4 all-time.
• Mizzou has won four of its five home openers since joining the SEC.
• Mizzou extended its win streak to eight games, tied for the longest since March 3-17, 2012, when Mizzou won 10 in a row.
• Mizzou's 8-1 start to the season is the best since 2015, when the team opened with a 10-1 record.
• Sophomore CF Connor Brumfield extended his hitting streak to nine games with a first-inning single. He has a hit in every game of the season. This also marked his fifth multi-hit game of the season, and his third in a row.
• Junior first baseman Matt Berler hit his team-leading fifth double of the season in the third inning. He has now reached base in all six games he has played this season. This was his third multi-hit game of the season and his fourth with at least one extra-base hit.
• Junior catcher Brett Bond hit his team-leading second home run of the season on a sixth-inning solo shot. The homer also gave him his team-leading 10^th RBI.
• Junior right fielder Trey Harris has a hit in seven of eight games that he has played this season.
• Junior pitcher Tanner Houck had his best outing of the season, allowing no earned runs for the first time on the year and the sixth time in his career. He has a 5-0 record in those games.
• This was also Houck's seventh career game with no walks allowed and his 16^th game with seven or more strikeouts.
• Sophomore designated hitter Brian Sharp has reached base in eight consecutive games, drawing a walk in seven of those.
• Mizzou's bullpen extended its streak to 22.0 innings without allowing an earned run before allowing one in the seventh inning.
• Freshman left fielder Kameron Misner drew his first walk of the season.