@MizzouBaseball Completes Sweep on Rocky Top

Saturday, May 20

Knoxville, Tenn.

1:00 PM

University of Missouri

35-21, 14-16

Tennessee

27-25, 7-21

Mizzou

Tennessee

5/20/2017 3:49:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Four-run sixth inning helps Mizzou to most wins since 2009

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Mizzou Baseball completed a sweep of Tennessee with an 8-2 win Saturday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium to finish the regular season at 35-21, the most wins for Mizzou since 2009 and the most regular season wins since 2008. With the game tied 2-2, Mizzou scored four runs in the sixth inning to break the game open and secure its second SEC sweep of 2017.

Mizzou closes the regular season by winning the final six games, including the final two SEC series over South Carolina and at Tennessee. Mizzou has won seven of the last 10 games and finishes the regular season with nine RPI top-50 wins and 13 top-100 wins. That sets up a situation where the Tigers can play themselves into the NCAA Tournament at next week's SEC Tournament. Mizzou will play an opponent at a time yet to be determined. Mizzou will be either the No. 9 or No. 10 seed at the tournament.

Junior RHP Bryce Montes De Oca (Lawrence, Kan.) earned the win Saturday to improve to 4-5 on the year. He tossed 5.0 innings, allowing just two runs (one earned) with six strikeouts and two walks. Mizzou broke open a 2-2 game with four runs in the sixth inning and another in the seventh. The Tigers finish the season going 10-5 on the road in SEC play.

After holding the Vols off the board in the first two games while boasting a 21.0-inning team shutout streak, Mizzou finally allowed Tennessee to get on the board in the first inning. Senior 2B Jeff Moberg hit a leadoff homer on a 2-2 fastball from Montes De Oca and then tacked on another on a sacrifice fly, taking a 2-0 lead after the opening frame.

Mizzou got those two runs back in the top of the second inning as the Tigers loaded the bases after singles from Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) and Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) and a walk by Kirby McGuire (Round Rock, Texas). A sacrifice fly by Chris Cornelius (St. Louis, Mo.) and an RBI groundout from Alex Samples (Bridgeport, Texas) tied the game at 2-2. Mizzou nearly went ahead as nine-hole hitter Matt Berler (Hoover, Ala.) roped a ball up the middle, but Tennessee SS Max Bartlett made a great play moving to his left to save a hit and a run.

Both pitchers settled in from there as Montes De Oca retired 10 straight until a one-out single in the bottom of the fourth. He pitched around that but again ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth inning as he allowed a leadoff double. A bunt moved the go-ahead run to third, but the big Tiger right-hander got a pair of strikeouts to strand the go-ahead run 90 feet away.

That gave the momentum back to Mizzou as it loaded the bases with no outs in the very next frame. McGuire then dumped a 1-2 pitch into left field for an RBI single and his second go-ahead hit of the series. Mizzou then got an RBI single from Cornelius and a big two-run single by Thursday night's hero Berler.

Mizzou tacked on another run on an RBI single in the seventh inning by Bond. Junior RHP Andy Toelken (Green Cove Springs, Fla.) tossed shutout innings in the sixth and seventh. DH Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) roped a two-out double to score another in the eighth inning. Toelken then threw a shutout eighth inning and Mizzou closed it out from there to seal the win.

For all the latest on all things Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter @MizzouBaseball and like the team on Facebook and Instagram (Missouri Baseball).

Potent Quotables
Head Coach Steve Bieser

Opening statement…
"It was just a great win to finish the season and to be on a nice little streak and play the game well. We really pitched the ball well and made plays we needed to make. Really pleased with the way we came into Knoxville and played a complete series."

Postgame Notes

Mizzou has now won eight in a row over the Vols and leads the all-time series, 10-5.
Mizzou is 6-3 all-time in Knoxville.
Mizzou is now 12-2 on Saturdays this season.
Mizzou's 35 wins are the most for a Mizzou club since winning 35 in 2009 and the 35 wins are the most in the regular season by Mizzou since 2008.
Mizzou's 14 SEC wins are the second-most ever since the Tigers joined the league in 2013.
First year head coach Steve Bieser has won more games than any first-year head coach in Mizzou history at the conclusion of the regular season
The series sweep for Mizzou is its second in the SEC and first since March 17-19 at Alabama. Both of Mizzou's SEC series sweeps came on the road.
Mizzou finishes the season with a 10-5 record on the road in SEC play.
Mizzou allowed just 11 hits in the series.
Junior INF Matt Berler hit his eighth double of the year and first since March 18 at Alabama.
Berler tallied his sixth multi-hit game of the year Saturday.
Junior C Brett Bond tallied his 16^th multi-hit game of the year Saturday, second-best on the team.
Freshman SS Chris Cornelius became Mizzou's first true freshman since 2010 when both Eric Garcia and Dane Opel had 30+ RBIs in their freshman campaigns.
Cornelius tallied his 11^th multi-hit game of the year Saturday.
Senior Kirby McGuire tallied his ninth multi-hit game of the season.