SAUGET, Ill. – Illinois hit back-to-back homers and scored four of its five runs off the homerun ball in a 5-3 win over Mizzou Baseball Tuesday night at GCS Ballpark. Seven of the eight runs scored Tuesday and all three by Mizzou came via the long ball as Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.), Kirby McGuire (Round Rock, Texas) and Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) homered for Mizzou. Mizzou falls to 21-8 on the year while Illinois moves to 10-16.
Mizzou junior RHP Nolan Gromacki (Smithville, Mo.) took the loss, his first of the season, after allowing the back-to-back, two-out homers in the seventh inning. Junior RHP Andy Toelken (Green Cove Springs, Fla.) tossed 5.2 innings and struck out a career-high six Illini batters in his best start since March 12 vs. Appalachian State. Ryan Thompson earned the win for Illinois, improving to 1-1. Joey Gerber earned his third save after a shutout ninth.
Illinois got on the board quickly in the top of the first innings, getting a leadoff single from Jack Yalowitz and a two-run homer from Michael Massey as the Illini jumped all over Toelken.
Illini starter Cyrillo Watson kept Mizzou off the board the first time through the order, but the leadoff hitter Misner hit a solo homer completely out of the park to right field to cut the lead to 2-1. It was his third homer of the year and first since his walk-off shot against UIC on March 5.
Toelken settled in from there, retiring nine in a row while striking out the side in the fifth inning. Mizzou carried that momentum into its half of the sixth inning as senior CF McGuire launched his first homer of the year to left field to tie the game at 2-2. Misner then tallied his second hit of the game in the next at bat and took second on a balk. But he was stranded there to end the frame.
After an easy fifth inning, Toelken ran into trouble in the sixth as the first two Illini batters reached base. But he made a great play on a sacrifice bunt attempt for an out at third base. Misner then went over the foul wall in left field to haul in a fly ball four out No. 2. Gromacki relived Toelken at that point and walked the first man he saw, but he struck out Illinois SS Ben Troike to strand the bases loaded.
Illinois leadoff hitter Jack Yalowitz hit a two-out, solo homer to right field in the top of the seventh to give Illinois the lead back at 3-2. Massey hit his second homer of the game immediately following Yalowitz's blast to go back-to-back for Illinois.
Mizzou got a pair of men on during its half of the seventh inning, but Robbie Glendinning (Scarborough, Australia) hit into a double play to end the threat. Harris then homered off the top of the wall in center field in the eighth inning to cut the lead to 4-3. But Massey drove in his fourth run of the game with a two-out RBI single through the right side to give Illinois an insurance run.
Gerber then picked up his third save of the year in a shutout ninth inning to complete the win for Illinois.
Mizzou will be back in action at Georgia this weekend, beginning Thursday night at Foley Field at 6:30 p.m. (CT) on ESPNU. For all the latest on all things Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team @MizzouBaseball and like the team on Facebook and Instagram (Missouri Baseball).
Potent Quotables
Head Coach Steve Bieser
Opening statement…
"Frustration is the right word. Just tired of hearing it. I just want to know if we are willing to start playing better baseball. It was tough (to string hits together). It's the same story, we've got some guys who are struggling and we kind of spaced them there and every time we started to get on a roll we couldn't come through. Just having a tough time competing right now."
Postgame Notes
- The all-time series between Mizzou and Illinois is now tied at 14 wins apiece
- Mizzou is 0-3 all-time against Illinois at GCS Ballpark
- Mizzou falls to 2-2 on Tuesdays this season
- Mizzou falls to 6-2 on neutral sites
- Mizzou lost its first game this season when homering multiple times, falling to 5-1 on the year in such games.
- Sophomore 1B Brian Sharp walked in the first inning, extending his streak to 19 consecutive games reaching base safely.
- Freshman OF Kameron Misner hit his first homer since March 5 vs. UIC, a span of 17 games.
- Misner tallied his 10th multi-hit game of the season Tuesday, second-best on the team.
- Junior RHP Andy Toelken worked his longest outing since March 12 vs. Appalachian State. He went 5.2 innings on Tuesday, striking out a career-high wix.
- Senior OF Kirby McGuire hit his first homer of the season Tuesday.