COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball snagged the series sweep with an 11-10 victory over the UIC Flames after a walk-off solo home run by freshman OF Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) to deep right center field on a 2-0 pitch in the bottom of the ninth. Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.), Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) and Chris Cornelius (St. Louis, Mo.) each tabbed a homer, marking the first time Mizzou has tallied four home runs in a game since the series finale against UIC last season on March 6 when Mizzou crushed four long balls.
Mizzou has now won 10 in a row, matching the longest streak by the Tigers since 2012. The Tigers are now 10-1 on the year, matching their best start to a season since 1985 (also opened 2015 with a 10-1 mark). UIC falls to 4-6 on the year.
Sharp had a great game for Mizzou, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and two walks. He made the transition to the mound in the eighth, limiting UIC to just one hit while fanning a batter as well. The righty earned his first win since March 4 of last season in a 7-4 victory over UIC.
Andy Toelken (Green Cove Springs, Fla.) found himself in a bind early in the contest putting three runners on after a hit batter, a single to left and a walk. UIC pushed the first run of the day across the plate with a single lined to center field. The Flames added an additional run off a fielder's choice to take a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the first.
Junior Nelson Mompierre (Miami, Fla.) drew a walk to get the momentum rolling for Mizzou in the bottom of the third. With a runner on, Cornelius approached the dish and blasted a two-run bomb over the left field wall to make it a tie ball game. Juniors Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) and Matt Berler (Hoover, Ala.) knocked a pair of singles but remained stranded after a groundout to end the inning. Berler has now reached base safely in eight consecutive games, dating back to the beginning of the season.
Sharp blasted an opposite shot homer to left field in the bottom of the fourth to put Mizzou ahead, 3-2. UIC climbed back on top in the top of the next inning after a two-run shot to left off the bat of Cody Bohanek. The Flames tacked on a pair of runs after back-to-back solo shots in the sixth inning by Scott Ota and Bowen Ogata. However, sophomore LHP Ty Shoaff (Akron, Ohio) entered the game and retired three consecutive batters to get out of the inning.
Mizzou rallied in the bottom of the sixth to put two runners on base after a rip up the middle by Alex Samples (Bridgeport, Texas) and a free pass to Sharp. Harris followed with a double smoked down the left field line for his 10th hit of the season, plating two for Mizzou and making it a 6-5 ball game, UIC.
The offensive production continued for Mizzou as Bond smacked a two-out single through the left side for the game tying RBI in the bottom of the seventh. Sharp sustained the hitting brigade with single up the middle to put Mizzou ahead. With runners on the corners, Harris stepped to the plate and crushed a three-run bomb over the center field wall for his first homer of the season, giving Mizzou the 10-6 lead.
UIC did not go down without a fight as the Flames plated four in the top of the eighth after a five-hit inning including a game tying double by Ricardo Ramirez. Sharp pitched a lights-out ninth inning to send the game to the bottom of the ninth, paving way for the walkoff homer by leadoff batter Misner. He went 0-for-4 in the game before working a 2-0 count in his final at-bat and roping a fastball through the pine trees over the fence in right center.
Mizzou will play its first home midweek games this week at Taylor Stadium, hosting Eastern Illinois Tuesday and Western Carolina Wednesday. 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…
"There were a lot of emotions going through in that game. I felt like us battling from behind and coming back, that is a great sign and that inning that we put together to distance ourselves, you start feeling like with Cole Bartlett on the mound, everything is in good shape. Then all of a sudden, we have a let-down and don't' finish – it wasn't really a let-down, they did a great job of scoring themselves. It was tough conditions. Any one thing can happen in this game – you get a ball in the wind and that team is going to win today. I think the best thing was the resiliency of our club after giving it up and tying the game back up, then being able to get through the top of the ninth to be a little more relaxed in the ninth to score runs."
Freshman OF Kameron Misner
On his walk-off homer …
"That was my first career walk-off anything. I had never hit a walk-off before. It's just one of those felling you can't really explain. I don't really ever know on home runs, I always sprint out of the box, but that one felt good. I knew it was gone, so I walked out I guess. I struggled early in the game because when the conditions are like that, it is easy to hit one out and you get too aggressive and try to do too much and I guess that is what I was going."
Notes
- Mizzou is now 13-4 all-time against UIC.
- Mizzou extended its win streak to 10 games, the longest since March 3-17, 2012 when Mizzou won 10 in a row.
- Mizzou's 10-1 start to the season is the best since 2015, when the team opened with a 10-1 record. The best 11-game start before the 10-1 mark is all the way back in 1985.
- This is the second multi-homer game this season with the last one coming against Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Feb 23.
- Freshman shortstop Chris Cornelius tabbed his first career home run.
- Junior second baseman Matt Berler reached base for the eighth consecutive game this season.
- Junior designated hitter Brett Bond notched his team leading 19th hit and reached base for the fifth consecutive game.
- Sophomore first baseman Brian Sharp tallied his first career home run.
- Junior right fielder Trey Harris hit his first homer of the season.
- Sunday's game marks the seventh time in 11 games that Mizzou has recorded 10 or more hits in a game.
- Misner's home run in the ninth is the first walk-off homer for Mizzou since March 6, 2016 against UIC.
- Mizzou smacked four homers Sunday, the most homeruns in game since March 6 of last season against UIC.
- Brian Sharp earned his first victory since March 4, 2016 against UIC.
