Purdue & Mizzou Roll on Day 3 of KBCC

Courtesy: mutigers.com

CORPUS CHRISTI - Mizzou baseball got homers from Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) and Case Munson (St. Charles, Mo.) and a sensational start from freshman Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) in a 5-1 win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Saturday night (Feb. 21) at Whataburger Field. The win improves the Tigers to 6-1 on the season and 2-1 in this weekend's Kleberg Bank College Classic. The Tigers are 6-1 for the first time since 2004.

Houck went 6.2 innings, allowing just three hits and one earned run, a solo homer off the top of the wall. He struck out five and walked just one, earning his second win of the season. Mizzou scored two runs in the first on a Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) double and then got a solo homer from Bond in the fourth and two-run shot from Munson in the seventh. Junior righty Breckin Williams (Oronogo, Mo.) earned his third save of the season.

"I am really happy with how we played. We played really good defense again, got some timely hits and pitched really well," head coach Tim Jamieson said on KTGR following the game. "Tanner got us into the seventh inning and that's all we really ask him to do. With the depth of our bullpen, that puts us in a good spot to win a game."

After waiting until the ninth inning to get the scoring started in Friday's 2-0 win over Sam Houston State, Mizzou was much quicker to get some runs on the board on Saturday. Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) got things started after he reached base to lead off the game after getting hit by a pitch. Brett Peel (St. Charles, Mo.) then roped a full-count pitch for a double, but Ring had to stay at third after not getting a great read on the ball. But Howard drove in both runs with a double, giving Mizzou a 2-0 lead after the top of the first.

One day removed from playing the role of hero with a walk-off homer against Sam Houston State, Bond hit his second homer of the season and second in as many days in the top of the fourth. This time it was a solo shot to center field, giving Mizzou a 3-0 lead, behind a red-hot Houck.

Houck sat down the first nine batters he faced before hitting an Islander batter to open the fourth inning. But the freshman worked around that hit batter and a walk to send the game to the top of the fifth with the Tigers leading, 3-0.

Houck settled back in as he retired the side in the bottom of the fifth inning. That was part of a streak in which Houck sat down eight in a row before an infield single broke that streak. But he worked around that and got the game through six innings with Mizzou still in control.

Houck got insurance in the top of the seventh on a two-out, two-run homer by Munson, his second career homer and first since 2013 at Vanderbilt. That gave Mizzou a 5-0 lead as the game moved to the bottom of the seventh. Corpus Christi got a solo homer from Kyle Danford to break up the shutout for Houck and cutting the lead to 5-1. But Houck rebounded and got a fly-out to center and a groundout before a two-out single ended his day. Austin Tribby (Springfield, Mo.) then got the final out of the seventh, preserving the 5-1 lead headed to the eighth.

Tribby then retired the first two batters he faced in the eighth inning before allowing a two-out hit and a walk, giving way to closer Breckin Williams (Oronogo, Mo.), who got a groundout off the bat of Danford to send the game to the ninth. Williams, in line for his third save of the year, pitched an uneventful ninth to seal the win.

Mizzou will close the Kelberg Bank College Classic tomorrow at 11 a.m. against Purdue. Junior righty Alec Rash (Adel, Iowa) will get the start for the Tigers. For all the latest on Mizzou baseball, stay tuned to MUTIgers.com and follow the team on twitter @MizzouBaseball.

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Courtesy: GoBearkats.com

CORPUS CHRISTI -- The Bearkats dropped two more heartbreakers as they were swept in a doubleheader against Purdue Saturday at Whataburger Field in the Kleberg Bank College Classic.

For the second straight game Sam Houston was beaten on a walk-off. Purdue used a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 12th inning to top Sam Houston 4-3 in the first game of the doubleheader.

In the second game the Kats allowed three runs in the top of the ninth to lose 9-7.

Sam Houston will play one final game in the tournament, against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

After 14 straight scoreless innings to start the weekend, designated hitter Dylan Ebbs and third baseman Jake MacWilliam got the Bearkats on the board in the sixth inning of game one. Center fielder Colt Atwood led off the inning with a single and first baseman Spence Rahm walked with one out.

PU decided to go to the bullpen and Ebbs greeted reliever Shane Bryant with an RBI single up the middle. MacWilliam followed with an RBI single to center field to make the score 2-0.

Purdue got a run back in the next half inning. The Boilermakers started the frame with a walk and a double to put runners at second and third with no outs. After a strikeout, Purdue broke up the shutout with a sacrifice fly to center field.

The Boilermakers tied the game up 2-2 in the seventh after reliever Juan Cortina allowed a one-out double to score on a single to left center. Alex Bisacca came out of the bullpen and gave up a single to load the bases but Miles Manning made a great play at shortstop to get out of the inning and keep the score 2-2.

Bisacca would then retire the next 13 batters he would face. He tossed 4 1/3 innings and allowed just one hit. He struck out two batters and didn't issue any walks.

In the second game the Kats jumped out to a 7-2 lead before allowing three runs in the fifth, one run in the sixth and three more in the ninth.

Sam Houston went right to work in the second game of the double header. Right fielder Travis Lee was hit by the first pitch of the game, moved to second on a groundout and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Bryce Johnson dropped a bloop single into shallow right field to score Lee from third base.

The Kats kept the inning going with two outs. After first baseman Spence Rahm lined a single into right-center field, third baseman Ryan Brinley smoked a liner into center field that scored Johnson from third to make the score 2-0.

Shortstop Miles Manning walked to lead off the bottom of the second and was sacrificed to second base. The junior transfer then stole third base and scored on an infield single by Colt Atwood to make it 3-0.

Designated hitter Hayden Simerly walked to lead off the bottom of the third and went to second on a balk. With two outs catcher Collin Yelich legged out an infield single and the throw went wild, allowing Simerly to score from second base.

The Boilermakers appeared to be out of the inning but the center fielder dropped a pop up that would have been the third out of the inning. Two Bearkat runs came in to score on the play and extend the lead to 6-2.

Johnson walked to lead off the fourth, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and advanced to third on a throwing error. He then scored on a wild pitch for the Bearkats seventh run of the game.

Seth Holbert tossed two scoreless innings of relief to keep the Bearkats in front of the Boilermakers.

Ryan Brinley took the loss in both games. He allowed runs in relief for the first time in his SHSU career.