NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Mizzou junior ace RHP Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) hurled an absolute gem as Mizzou Baseball earned an 12-inning, 2-1 win over Vanderbilt Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Field. Houck pitched 8.0 shutout innings, striking out a season-high nine while surrendering just five hits and a walk, but earned a no-decision after Mizzou blew a 1-0, ninth-inning lead. It took extra innings, but junior INF Robbie Glendinning (Scarborough, Australia) dumped an RBI single into right field in the top of the 12th inning for the game-winning run.
Mizzou improves to 29-19 on the year and 9-14 in SEC play while Vanderbilt falls to 28-18 and 11-11 in SEC play. The win is Mizzou's first ever over Vanderbilt in 16 tries. Freshman LHP T.J. Sikkema (DeWitt, Iowa) earned the win, his team-leading seventh this season, despite blowing the save in the ninth.
Houck needed just seven pitches to retire the side in the first, throwing all seven pitches for strikes. He allowed a bloop hit to Jeren Kendall, but he was erased on a 5-3-5 double play to end the frame. Pinch hitter Johnny Balsamo (Kansas City, Mo.) singled after a nine-pitch at-bat in the bottom of the third, breaking a streak of eight straight sat down by Vandy starter Kyle Wright. But that was all the offense for Mizzou through the first three innings.
Both pitchers face just one batter over the minimum through three innings as both appeared to be sharp early. Houck had a strikeout and induced a double play with seven groundouts through the first three innings, throwing just 31 pitches.
Houck struck out the side in the fourth inning, working around a two-out walk. He did that against the middle of Vanderbilt order. Mizzou responded offensively in the top of the fifth inning, getting a leadoff double from Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.). He eventually scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) as Mizzou took a 1-0 lead.
Now pitching with a lead, Houck hit the first batter he faced, C Jason Delay, in the bottom of the fifth, setting up a jam. Delay moved to third after a pair of groundouts and Connor Kaiser ripped a ball back up the middle, but Glendinning ranged to his right to snare the ball and throw out Kaiser to save a run.
After a steady dose of groundouts and strikeouts, Vanderbilt finally got a ball in the air against Houck in the sixth inning as Kendall lifted a ball to shallow center and Mizzou's Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) hauled it on for an out. Houck tallied his fifth strikeout of the game to send it to the seventh. At that point, Houck had retired six in a row after hitting Delay to open the fifth.
Wright continued to be equal to the task, retiring nine straight Mizzou batters after Misner's double. Houck then had his streak of six-in-a-row sat down snapped as Reed Hayes hit a leadoff single in the top of the seventh. But Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) caught him stealing and Houck then struck out JJ Belday for the second out. Vanderbilt got back-to-back two-out hits to put runners on the corners, but Houck got Alex Brewer swinging to strand a pair, his seventh strikeout of the game.
Houck then picked up two more strikeouts in the eighth, including one of Kendall to end his outing. Sikkema took over in the ninth and allowed the tying run to score on a sacrifice fly. The run came after a walk and a pinch-hit single put runners on the corners with one out.
Mizzou nearly took the lead in the top of the 11th, getting a two-out double from Balsamo after a Sharp walk. But Sharp was gunned at the plate, 8-6-2, to preserve the 1-1 tie. Vanderbilt got the winning run on second in the 11th, but Sikkema picked up his second strikeout to send the game to the 12th inning.
Brumfield started Mizzou's rally in the 12th with a leadoff single into center. He moved to second on a groundout and was later knocked in on Glendinning's single. Sikkema then tossed a shutout bottom of the 12th to preserve the win.
Mizzou and Vanderbilt will conclude the three-game series with the rubber game Sunday at 1 p.m. on SEC Network+. 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…
"Feels very good. Important win for us. We had our backs against the wall today and we knew what we needed to do to keep things where we want them this season. We need a strong finish and that's what we're looking to do. I thought we played a very good game today and we just have to continue to play that way."
Junior RHP Tanner Houck
On his performance…
"Fastball command and fastball movement are always my go-to. I always feel like I have those two on and today it was moving just a little bit more and the command was working a little bit more than usual. Slider was the second go-to big pitch of the day. Threw a lot of those today. I really commanded that well, both in and out, backdoor sliders. Really worked the change-up in later. Didn't throw as many as I would have liked to keep the hitters off the fastball, but it ultimately worked out."
Postgame Notes
- Mizzou tallied its first ever win over Vanderbilt on Saturday in 16 tries, including the first win in eight tries in Nashville.
- Mizzou is now 4-7 this year vs. SEC East teams.
- Mizzou improves to 10-2 on Saturdays this season.
- Freshman Kameron Misner hit his 10th double of the year, just two off the team lead, in the fifth inning. It was his second double this week after he hit one in Tuesday's game vs. Murray State.
- Sophomore INF Brian Sharp tallied his first RBI since April 21 at Ole Miss, a span of seven games.
- Junior RHP Tanner Houck pitched through 6.0 innings for the 36th time in 42 career starts and through 7.0 innings for the 23rd time in 42 starts.
- Houck tallied a season-high nine strikeouts on Saturday, moving his career total to 278, fourth all-time at Mizzou, passing Aaron Crow (277). He has the second-most strikeouts of any Mizzou pitcher in his first three seasons, trailing only Kyle Gibson (304).
- In his last two regular season starts vs. Vanderbilt, Houck has tossed 17.0 shutout innings with 23 strikeouts and just three walks with only seven hits. Remarkably, he does not have a win to show for it.
- T.J. Sikkema now has 11 decisions without a loss during his freshman campaign, seven wins and four saves.
