COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball (8-2) won its home opener over Arkansas Pine-Bluff (0-8), 2-0, on Wednesday night (March 2) thanks to a strong start by sophomore RHP Ryan Lee (Grandview, Mo). The win was the sixth straight victory and the third shutout of the year for Mizzou, which returned to Taylor Stadium after going 7-2 during an 11-day road trip in Florida.
Lee picked up the win, pitching a career high 6.1 innings of shutout baseball, striking out three and walking one while giving up just four hits to earn the first victory of his career. He also struck out a career-high three in the win.
Freshman Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) led the Mizzou offense with two hits and an RBI, good for his second career two-hit game. Shane Benes (Town & Country, Mo.) added a double and a run and Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) and Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) added the other Mizzou hits.
Harris put Mizzou on the board in the bottom of the first with his eighth RBI of the season on a groundout to second base, allowing SEC Freshman of the Week Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) to score.
Mizzou got on the board again in the bottom of the fourth inning, after Sharp drove home Benes on a single to left field. Benes reached base by doubling down the left field line. He is now tied for the team lead with three doubles.
RHP Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.) made his team-leading sixth appearance of the season, pitching 1.1 innings with one strikeout and giving up one hit. Bartlett entered the game with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth. He only needed just one pitch to get Mizzou out of the jam, forcing a pop fly to shallow right field. In the seventh inning, Bartlett got one of his outs by pickoff, his first of the season.
Sharp pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out one without allowing any base runners, earning his second save of the season in as many opportunities.
Mizzou begins a four game series with Illinois-Chicago on Friday at Taylor Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
— Mizzou Athletics —