FORT MYERS, Fla. – Mizzou Baseball used a season-high nine walks and scored a season-high 12 runs to back another sensational start from senior RHP Reggie McClain (Duluth, Ga.) to earn a 12-2 win in the series opener against Hofstra on Friday (Feb. 26) at City of Palms Park. McClain tossed his second career complete game, allowing no earned runs while striking out a career-high six in his second win of the season. He has not walked a batter in 41.0 career innings when pithing on a neutral site and is 5-0 with 0.00 ERA in such outings.
Freshmen Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) and Ian Nelson (Lake St. Louis, Mo.) each reset career-highs in RBIs and hits and classmate Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) tallied his first career multi-hit game to spark the offense. In all, Mizzou’s three freshmen in the lineup drove in eight of the 12 runs. Senior Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.) also added a double and a single for his second multi-hit game of the season and SS Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) extended his hitting streak to six games and added two RBI in the win.
McClain needed just nine pitches to get through the first inning, tallying a pair of strikeouts in the opening frame. He then threw just 11 pitches in the second inning and picked up another strikeout as he was dealing early. McClain was snake-bitten a bit in the third inning, taking a comebacker off the leg. That run came around to score after an error and a big-hop ground ball to third, giving Hofstra an early 1-0 lead.
Mizzou then put two men on in the bottom of the third on a hit by Nelson and a hit-batter. That brought Howard to the dish, but he grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.
The Tigers did not threaten again until the bottom of the fifth. Lavy reached on a leadoff error and Wednesday’s hero Sharp singled into right to put runners on the corners with one down for Nelson. He tallied an RBI single and Brumfield followed with an RBI double to give Mizzou a 2-1 lead. Mizzou threatened to break the game open, but couldn’t tack on more runs.
Hofstra tied the game in the next half inning, using two hits and an error to plate a run. Mizzou got a big double play on a flyout to center, throwing the trail runner out at second base, and McClain picked up a strikeout to get out of the inning.
In the sixth, Mizzou picked up right where it left off in the fifth, loading the bases with no outs, with the big hit coming from Lavy – a double to right center. Sharp then drew a bases-loaded walk to score a run and Nelson hit a ground ball out to the right side to plate another run, giving Mizzou a 4-2 lead. The Tigers then drew three bases-loaded walks to plate three more runs, scoring five runs on just one hit. Hofstra issued four walks and a hit batter in inning.
Mizzou added to the lead in the seventh inning, using a two-run single from Brumfiled and then added three more in the ninth.
Mizzou will play a doubleheader against Hofstra tomorrow beginning at noon (CT). Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) and Austin Tribby (Springfield, Mo.) will get the starts for Mizzou.
— Mizzou Athletics —