JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Mizzou Baseball (1-0) opened its 2020 campaign in style Friday afternoon at Rudy Abbott Field, recording a 10-4 victory over Jacksonville State.
Offensive balance by the Tigers lineup stole the show Friday, as seven individuals posted a hit and five players tallied an RBI. Junior Chad McDaniel and redshirt freshman Seth Halvorsen led the way with multi-hit and multi-RBI efforts at the plate.
Junior Ian Bedell earned the victory behind a career-high 11 strikeouts. Senior Lukas Veinbergs and sophomore Tommy Springer were outstanding over 3.0 innings of relief work to close out the ballgame.
#ShowMe Top Performers
- Bedell (W) 6.0 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 11 K
- Veinbergs: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R
- McDaniel: 2-for-5, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI
- Halvorsen: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI
- Austin James: 2-for-4, R, 2B, RBI
- Peter Zimmermann: 1-for-1, R, RBI, 3 BB, SB
- Clayton Peterson: 2-for-4, R, BB, SB
Coach Bieser Postgame Soundbites
On the Tigers' opening day victory…
"This was a game that was back and forth. The good thing was seeing our offense continuing to battle, especially in the middle innings. They put runs on the board and took what our opponent gave us. Ian (Bedell) came out today and threw the ball outstanding."
On Halvorsen breaking a 2-2 tie with his first career home run…
"Coming out and answering that half inning was really huge for us. We had a baserunning error earlier in the inning, but Seth later came up big for us and put us back on top."
#MIZ Takeaways
- Mizzou improves to 2-2 on opening day matchups under head coach Steve Bieser. The Tigers were victorious in 2018 and this afternoon, while suffering losses in 2017 and 2019.
- Mizzou's offense delivered in game one of the 2020 campaign, producing double-digit runs for the first time since May 5, 2019, at Tennessee.
- The Tigers' 10 runs scored were their most on opening day since Feb. 18, 2011, vs. Cal Poly.
- In his second career starting nod, Bedell tallied his first career win when starting a game.
Up Next
- Game two of Mizzou and Jacksonville State's season-opening three-game series is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT Saturday afternoon.
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