Mizzou baseball takes down No. 25 Houston

riggertMissouriCORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Sophomore RF Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) hit a two-out, two-run, bases-loaded single in the bottom of the sixth inning and junior RHP Andy Toelken (Green Cove Springs, Fla.) out-dueled an All-American as Mizzou Baseball upset No. 25 Houston, 4-2, Friday afternoon in game one of the Kleberg Bank College Classic at Whataburger Field. The win for Mizzou is its first over a ranked opponent since defeating Arkansas, 8-5, on April 2 of last season and extends the team’s winning streak to five games. Mizzou goes to 5-1 on the year while Houston falls to 3-2.

Toelken was fantastic in his second Mizzou start, out-dueling preseason All-American Seth Romero, who took the loss. Toelken went a career-high 6.1 innings, scattering seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts while allowing a pair of solo homers for Houston’s only scoring. Toelken also got great defense behind him as Mizzou turned two double plays behind him during the righties first Division I win. Freshman LHP T.J. Sikkema (DeWitt, Iowa) earned the save after tossing 2.2 perfect innings to shut the door, tallying three strikeouts in the process.

At the plate, Robbie Glendinning (Scarborough, Australia) and Matt Berler (Hoover, Ala.) tallied multi-hit games to lead the offense. Brumfield tallied his second multi-RBI game of the year and leads the team with five two-out RBI this season.

Toelken worked around a hit batter and a double in the first inning thanks to several good defensive plays by the Mizzou infield. Romero, a projected top-10 draft pick, struck out the first five batters but Mizzou nearly got to him for a two-out rally in the second. Glendinning roped his first double of the season and Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) nearly knocked him in, but Cougar RF Lael Lockhart made a great running catch in the corner to save a run and extra bases.

Mizzou loaded the bases in the bottom of the third inning after Berler led off the frame with a double. Kirby McGuire (Round Rock, Texas) followed with a bunt single and Brumfield reached on a wild pitch after striking out. A passed ball then scored a run and Alex Samples (Bridgeport, Texas), who made a tremendous diving catch into the stands earlier in the game, hit a sacrifice fly to give Mizzou a 2-0 lead after three.

Houston cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth with one swing as 2B Jake Scheiner hit a solo shot to RF, the first homer hit off Mizzou pitching this season (184 at-bats). Mizzou threatened to blow the game open in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with no outs, but Romero worked out of it with a pair of Ks and a pop up.

The Cougars used that momentum and got a leadoff homer from Connor Wong to tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the sixth inning. Toelken continued to cruise following the homer as he got Mizzou through six with just five hits against and two runs.

Brumfield delivered a huge two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the sixth to give Mizzou the lead back at 4-2. The two RBIs give him five two-out RBI through six games this season. Toelken then put the first two men on in the seventh inning, but got his fourth strikeout before exiting the game after a career-high 6.1 innings. He gave way to Sikkema, who induced a pair of pop ups to preserve the lead at 4-2.

Sikkema then picked up a pair of strikeouts and a slick play from Berler at first in the eighth to hold the lead. He then tossed a perfect ninth inning to earn the save.

Mizzou will be back in action tomorrow at 6 p.m. against host Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

— Mizzou Athletics —