O’FALLON, Mo. – Mizzou baseball picked up a victory in the annual Braggin’ Rights matchup against Illinois at CarShield Field Tuesday evening, defeating the Fighting Illini, 5-1.
The Tigers (17-8, 1-5 SEC) utilized a committee of five pitchers to limit Illinois (12-11, 4-5 Big 10) to just one run, forcing the Fighting Illini to strand 15 runners on base.
Sophomore right-hander PJ Green made his first start of the season. After getting into a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first, the Tyrone, Ga., native retired the next three Fighting Illini batters to wiggle out of the jam unscathed and keep the game scoreless. In the bottom half of the first, the Tigers wasted no time getting runs on the board when Cameron Benson reached on error, resulting in a pair of Tiger runs. The very next at-bat, another pair of runs were added to the tally with a two-run double by freshman Blaize Ward, giving the Tigers a commanding 4-0 lead at the end of the first frame.
The score remained steady for the following two innings during a stint of six-straight batters retired by Green. The righty finished with three scoreless innings pitched for his longest outing of the season while striking out two Fighting Illini batters.
Junior Keyler Gonzalez relieved Green in the fourth. The Santa Clara, Cuba, native left an Illinois runner stranded following back-to-back strikeouts to end the top of the frame. In the fifth, Gonzalez found himself in trouble with bases loaded and only one out, but the Cuban hurler remained steady, forcing a pop out and a groundout from the next two Illinois batters he faced to retire the side.
The Fighting Illini pushed across their only run of the ballgame on a dropped third strike in the sixth inning, and graduate pitcher Kadden Drew took over the mound during the jam. The lefty from Scottsdale, Ariz., forced a groundout and a flyout to keep the score at 4-1. The Tigers answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the frame after a leadoff double from Benson was complimented by an eventual sacrifice fly off the bat of senior Jamal George, extending the Mizzou lead to 5-1.
Illinois knocked on the door with two runners on the base paths once again. However, freshman Eli Skidmore took over in relief of Drew and left the pair of runners stranded, retiring back-to-back Illinois batters and using just three pitches to get out of the inning. Skidmore stayed strong and tallied a scoreless inning in the eighth.
Freshman Sam Rosand came on in relief for the ninth inning and slammed the door with a strikeout and a pair of groundouts to secure Braggin’ Rights and the Tiger victory.
NOTEBOOK
- Mizzou improves to 18-15-1 all-time against Illinois following the victory.
- Green made the first collegiate start of his career and tallied his longest outing of the campaign with three scoreless innings.
- Gonzalez compiled a Division-I high 2.1 innings of relief and racked up three strikeouts, earning his first win at the DI level and as a Tiger in the process.
- Skidmore recorded his third-consecutive scoreless appearance with 1.2 strong innings pitched in relief.
- Ward connected with a two-run double in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to five games – the longest by a Mizzou freshman this season. The hit gave Ward his third multi-RBI game of the campaign.
- Pierre Seals extended his hitting streak to double digits (10 games) following a single in the first inning.
- Jase Woita extended his on-base streak to 20 games after a walk in the first frame – the longest streak by a Tiger this season.
- Kaden Peer extended his reached base streak to 13 games – every game he’s played in this season.
- Kam Durnin extended his own on-base streak to 12-straight games, reaching base safely with a pair of walks and a single.
- With the win, Mizzou has exceeded last season’s win total with 31 games still to be played.
The Tigers remain in the St. Louis area as they travel to St. Charles for a matchup versus Lindenwood (10-13, 0-3 OVC) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Lou Brock Sports Complex. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ and is also available via audio stream on the Varsity Network by Learfield, with longtime play-by-play announcer Tex Little on the call and Matt Michaels providing color.
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