COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball won its home opener, 7-3, Tuesday night (Feb. 27) over Alabama A&M. Freshman RHP Ian Bedell (Davenport, Iowa) earned his first Division I win, going 3.2 relief innings, a career-long. He allowed just one earned run on two hits while striking out three. Reigning SEC Player of the Week Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) went 3-for-3 with a double and walk, scoring three runs. He is 9-for-his-last-9 since game two of last Saturday’s doubleheader. In that span, he has one double, one triple, two homers, nine RBI, two walks and has scored seven times.
The Tigers walked a season-high 11 times Tuesday. Junior OF Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) drove in a pair of runs and senior OF Trey Harris (Powder Spring, Ga.) had an RBI double in the sixth inning. Mizzou improves to 6-3 on the season while Alabama A&M falls to 3-5. The two will play the series finale Wednesday at 4 p.m.
TURNING POINT
Mizzou entered the bottom of the fifth inning, trailing 1-0 on a solo homer from Tyus O’Neal-El. That’s when Mizzou started to put together quality at-bats, getting a double from reigning SEC Player of the Week Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.). A&M starter Clayton Warner then walked three straight Mizzou batters as a bases-loaded walk to Cade Bormet (San Antonio, Texas) tied the game. CF Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) then hit a sacrifice fly to left, giving Mizzou a 2-1 lead.
Mizzou scored three more in the sixth, highlighted by a Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) double to score Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) from first. The other two runs came in on bases-loaded walks. Mizzou held on from there, getting good bullpen work from Nolan Gromacki (Smithville, Mo.) and Giovanni Lopez (Goodyear, Ariz.).
NOTES
– Mizzou now leads the all-time series with Alabama A&M, 2-0
– Mizzou has won five of six home openers since joining the SEC and both under second-year head coach Steve Bieser.
– Junior 3B Brian Sharp extended his hitting streak to six games, the longest active streak the longest by a Mizzou player this season.
– Sharp tallied his second multi-hit game of the season Tuesday. Since Saturday, he is 9-for-9 with nine RBI, seven runs, two homers, two walks and a double and a triple.
– Freshman RHP Konnor Ash made his first career start Tuesday, going a career-long 3.0 innings, allowing three hits and one run on a solo homer. He walked two and struck out one.
– Freshman RHP Ian Bedell earned his first career win, pitching 3.2 relief innings, allowing just one earned run on two hits with three strikeouts.
– Mizzou walked a season-high 11 times Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Mizzou and Alabama A&M will play the final contest of a two-game series at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
— Mizzou Athletics —