@MizzouBaseball Falls to North Florida in Tight Season Opener, 5-4

Friday, February 15

Jacksonville, Fla.

5:05 PM

University of Missouri

0-1

North Florida

1-0

Missouri

North Florida

@MizzouBaseball Falls to North Florida in Tight Season Opener, 5-4

2/15/2019 9:40:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Tigers fought back to tie the game three times, but ultimately fell late

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mizzou Baseball (0-1) and North Florida battled back and forth all Friday evening at Harmon Stadium, but the host Ospreys ultimately tallied a 5-4 victory in the teams' 2019 season opener.

The Tigers evened the score after trailing on three separate occasions, including an eighth inning solo home run by junior SS Chris Cornelius to square up the score at four apiece. North Florida had an immediate answer in the bottom half of the inning however, scoring the game-deciding run with a sacrifice fly RBI.

#ShowMe Top Performers vs. North Florida

Cornelius: 2-for-3, R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI
Alex Peterson: 2-for-4, R, RBI, 2 SB
Mark Vierling: 2-for-4, 2B
Kameron Misner: 1-for-3, 2 SB, 2 BB

Hear From Head Coach Steve Bieser

On Friday's 2019 season opener…

"It was a tough game. North Florida played an outstanding game tonight. We just couldn't string anything together. We'd get one run, but couldn't put anything else together. North Florida did what they needed to do to win the ballgame tonight."

On Mizzou's defensive struggles…

"We didn't play defense the way we needed to. We gave them some free bases with some misplays. We had an error and a couple balls got by our catcher. Those are things we have to clean up. That was the difference in the game."

On the team showing fight and resiliency…

"It was good. Those things are nice to see. We saw a lot of that tonight. Alex (Peterson) did a good job of getting a sac fly RBI and Chris (Cornelius) had some clutch hitting for us to keep us in the game. As our new guys settle in and don't put on as much pressure then they'll be okay as well."

#MIZ Takeaways

Friday marked Mizzou and North Florida's first-ever meeting.
The Tigers fell to 4-3 in season openers since joining the Southeastern Conference and 1-2 under Coach Bieser.
The Tigers were extremely active on the basepaths Friday, finishing with five stolen bases. It marked the most team stolen bases by Mizzou in a season opener since Feb. 6, 2003, at UNC-Wilmington (four).
The Ospreys took advantage of two Tiger passed balls in the series opener, as their fifth and final run was in part due to a mishap behind the plate.
Six different Tigers finished with a hit on Opening Day, led by multi-hit efforts from A. Peterson, Cornelius and Vierling.

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