Missouri baseball takes down No. 10 Vanderbilt in series opener

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball opened a pivotal weekend series against No. 10 Vanderbilt with a 2-1 victory on Thursday night at Taylor Stadium. The closely-contested ballgame featured plenty of high-leverage at bats, but Mizzou LHP T.J. Sikkema and reliever RHP Andy Toelken stifled the Commodores enough to preserve the one-run win. The pair was aided by an errorless Mizzou defense that influenced the ballgame all evening. With the victory, Mizzou improves to 7-9 in SEC play.

Sikkema’s fifth SEC start featured a career-high 10 strikeouts over 6.0 innings of one-run ball. During a stretch from the second inning until the fifth, the sophomore retired 1- straight Commodores. Following Sikkema’s exit after six frames, Toelken dominated the game down the stretch. Toelken hurled 3.0 perfect innings and struck out four, sealing the Mizzou victory while earning a save, his third of the season and second this week.

The win was career No. 200 for second-year Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser.

TURNING POINT

After senior Trey Harris gave Mizzou a 2-1 lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth, the right fielder combined with senior 2B Matt Berler for a perfect 9-4-2 relay to preserve Mizzou’s one-run lead. After Vanderbilt’s Philip Clarke hit a one-out double, Clarke tried to score on a shot down the right field line. Harris fielded the ball in the corner cleanly on one hop and fired to Berler, who executed a perfect relay throw to catcher Brett Bond, nabbing Clarke at the plate. Mizzou escaped the inning with the lead and only allowed one Vanderbilt baserunner after the crucial relay play.

QUOTING MIZZOU

Head Coach Steve Bieser

“It’s a signature win for us, starting a series off that way. We know that we still have work to do. They’ve lost their Friday night games before and come back to win the series, so we know we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. We need to continue to pitch and defend and get timely hitting and we have to take chances on offense. We took a lot of chances tonight – some worked, some didn’t. Overall, it’s about finding one more run than the other team finds.”

TOP TIGERS

Sophomore SP T.J. Sikkema made another stellar SEC start, lasting 6.0 innings and allowing only one run while scattering seven hits. Sikkema sat down a career-high 10 batters on strikes and issued only two walks. During a stretch from the second to the fifth inning, Sikkema retired 10 straight Commodores. Through five starts in SEC play this season, the sophomore has 35 strikeouts and only eight walks over 32.1 innings
Senior RP Andy Toelken dominated out of the Mizzou bullpen, preserving the Tigers 2-1 lead with a 3.0-inning save. Toelken was perfect against the nine batters he faced and struck out four. The senior has allowed only one hit over his last 5.1 innings while accumulating six strikeouts. Since moving to the bullpen, he has two wins, three saves and has allowed just one run over 17.1 innings.
Senior RF Trey Harris went 1-for-3 at the dish and knocked in a run to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth. Harris now has a team-leading 36 RBI and has four hits over his last three games. Harris also teamed up with Berler on the key run-saving play in the sixth inning.
Senior 2B Matt Berler was 1-for-3 at the plate and drove in the game’s first run on an RBI infield single in the bottom of the second. Berler worked a tedious nine-pitch advantage and knocked in Cade Bormet on a hard groundball up the middle. Berler’s RBI was his first in SEC play.

NOTES

With the victory, Mizzou improves to 2-16 against Vanderbilt all-time
The win was No. 200 in head coach Steve Bieser’s career as a Division I head coach.
Mizzou played their first Thursday game this season, posting a 1-0 record
After the win, Mizzou is now 15-10 in three-game series
With the win over #10 Vanderbilt, Mizzou is now 7-6 this season against ranked opponents
Mizzou has dominated at Taylor Stadium this year, posting a 17-3 record at home
Mizzou improves to 5-1 in one-run games after the win
The Tigers are now a perfect 10-0 when allowing only one run
Despite being out-hit 7-4 by Vanderbilt, Mizzou escaped with a victory. The Tigers are now 5-11 this season when being out-hit
After another errorless performance, Mizzou is now 20-3 when making zero errors
Trey Harris was hit by a pitch for the tenth time this season, moving him to fifth in the SEC in HBP
Connor Brumfield swiped his seventh bag of the season
Mizzou won its second game of the season when tallying fewer than five hits.

UP NEXT

Mizzou hosts Vanderbilt in game two of the series Friday night at 6:30 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —