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COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball notched its ninth consecutive win of the season Saturday afternoon with a 6-4 victory over UIC behind a stellar outing by freshman LHP T.J. Sikkema (DeWitt, Iowa). The lefty provided Mizzou with four strong innings in relief, scattering just two hits and allowing no runs against seven strikeouts. Mizzou is off to its best start to the season since 2015 at 9-1 and the nine-game winning streak is the longest for the Tigers since 2012. Sikkema earned his second win of the season while Charlie Cerny took the loss for UIC, which falls to 4-5 on the season.
Mizzou got on the board in the bottom of the first, putting up a three-spot. Both Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) and Nelson Mompierre (Miami, Fla.) had RBI doubles in the inning and Misner stole home on a perfectly-executed double-steal in the frame.
UIC got a leadoff single and a balk in the second inning off Mizzou starter Michael Plassmeyer (St. Louis, Mo.) and RF Scott Ota roped an RBI double into the right center field gap to plate a run. Plassmeyer escaped the inning thanks to a great pickoff play at second base. Plassmeyer cruised through the third, picking up his fourth strikeout in the process.
Sophomore CF Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) gave Plassmeyer some help in the top of the fourth as he ran down a fly out in center, crashing into the wall for out No. 1. That saved extra bases and was a big play as UIC followed with back-to-back singles. But Plassmeyer pitched out of the jam to strand a pair, picking up out No. 3 on his fifth strikeout of the afternoon.
Mizzou got another run on a double-play ball in the fourth inning to push the lead to 4-1. UIC took advantage of a bunt single and an error to open the sixth inning, plating three runs in the frame (only two earned). All three were charged to Plassmeyer, but Sikkema did a nice job getting Mizzou out of the jam.
Mizzou then got a leadoff walk from pinch hitter Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) and a single up the middle from Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) to put runners on the corners in the seventh. Berler then notched his go-ahead sacrifice fly to center. Sikkema was lights out in the eighth inning, striking out the side on just 10 pitches, reducing UIC to just three final outs.
Mizzou scratched across an insurance run in the eighth on another double play ball to drive in a run. Sikkema then tallied his fifth and sixth consecutive strikeouts to open the ninth. With two outs, Sikkema hit Rob Calabrese to put bring the tying run to the plate. Calabrese took second on a passed ball but Sikkema recorded the final out of the game with a groundout to the mound.
Mizzou looks for its first series sweep of the season in the final game of the series Sunday afternoon at Taylor Stadium. First pitch is set for 1 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…
"I would have taken a 9-1 record. I think we've done some things that we should do when it comes to the record. I figured that if we are playing the game the way we are supposed to be playing it that we should have a solid record this time of the year. Just really satisfied because there were several situations where we could have let the games slip away and we found a way to battle through and win a ball game. Today's game you stated seeing the momentum turn – it's tough sometimes when you have that lead and momentum was going their way. We were able to swing it back and win the last three innings. That's key and we've had some ballgames earlier in the year where we were down to the last couple out and we were able to battle. That's a good sign for this club of being able to handle those pressure situations. T.J. Sikkema, we put him in with bases loaded and having that pressure then also having the pressure in that last inning, just knowing that if a baserunner got on with the wind blowing the way it was – if you make a bad pitch the game is tied. Really happy with where we're at."
Freshman LHP T.J. Sikkema
On his performance…
"Everything was working. Fastball was working great and then once they started to get on that I threw a couple of good changeups and a couple of good curveballs. Everything was working; me and Nelson (Mompierre) were real good together. It was great having those guys behind me making plays."
Notes
- Mizzou is now 12-4 against UIC all-time.
- Mizzou extended its win streak to nine games, the longest since March 3-17, 2012, when Mizzou won 10 in a row.
- Mizzou's 9-1 start to the season is the best since 2015, when the team opened with a 10-1 record.
- Junior second baseman Matt Berler reached base for the seventh consecutive game and hit his team-leading sixth double of the season.
- Sophomore pitcher Michael Plassmeyer struck out six batters. This was the first time Plassmeyer has struck out at least six batters in consecutive games in his career.
- Plassmeyer has not allowed more than three earned runs in any of his last seven appearances, dating back to May 1st, 2016
- In 16 career appearances, Plassmeyer has walked one or fewer batters 14 times.
- Senior center fielder Connor Brumfield extended his hitting streak to 10 games. He has not gone hitless in a game this season.
- Freshman right fielder Kameron Misner had his sixth multi-hit game of the season and his first game of the season with multiple stolen bases.
- Junior designated hitter Brett Bond reached base for the fourth consecutive game.
- Mizzou has scored at least four runs in eight consecutive games.
- Junior right fielder Trey Harris has reached base in six consecutive games, and nine of 10 games to start the season.
- Sophomore first baseman Brian Sharp's reached-base streak ended at eight games.
- Mizzou got 10 hits for the seventh time in 10 games this season.
- Freshman pitcher T.J. Sikkema struck out six consecutive batters from the seventh inning into the ninth, bringing his season total to 26. Of the 56 pitches he threw in today's relief appearance, 41 were strikes.
- Sikkema has earned the victory in two of his four appearances this season, allowing only one earned run through 16.1 innings pitched.
