No. 18 Missouri uses long ball to even series with Arkansas

riggertMissouriCOLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball tallied three homers as part of a six-run sixth inning to drop Arkansas, 7-2, on Saturday afternoon, evening the three-game series at one win apiece. Junior SS Robbie Glendinning (Scarborough, Australia) and sophomore 1B Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) hit back-to-back homers, a two-run shot and a solo shot respectively, to kick start the sixth inning and DH Nelson Mompierre (Miami, Fla.) added a two-run homer three batters later as part of a six-run sixth inning to put the game out of reach.

Mizzou moves to 21-2 on the year while Arkansas falls to 19-5. Both teams are now 4-1 in SEC play and play the rubber game of the series at 1 p.m. Sunday. Freshman LHP T.J. Sikkema (DeWitt, Iowa) earned the win (5-0) for Mizzou and now has a win or a save in his last eight appearances (5-0, three saves). He backed a sensational start by Michael Plassmeyer (St. Louis, Mo.), who went 5.0 innings, allowing just six hits and one earned run with five strikeouts.

The story of the game was the sixth inning as Mizzou pounded out three homers, seven hits and six runs to take a 7-1 lead that it did not relinquish.

After Plassmeyer pitched around a runner-on-the-corners, one-out jam in the first inning, Mizzou got runners on the corners with no outs after a Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) walk and a Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) hit through the right side. The two then perfectly executed a double-steal to give Mizzou a 1-0 lead after one.

Arkansas tied the game on a Chad Spanberger homer in the top of the third inning. Mizzou got a leadoff double from Mompierre in the bottom of the fifth but couldn’t capitalize. Sikkema took over on the mound in the sixth inning and got a sensational catch from Harris in right field as he went face-first into the wall for out No. 2. He mowed down Arkansas on eight pitches to set up Mizzou’s half of the sixth.

Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) singled to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning and then Glendinning and Sharp went back-to-back to give Mizzou a 4-1 lead. Mompierre then added his two-run shot to extend the lead to 6-1 as Arkansas used three pitchers in the inning. An RBI single by Misner capped the inning and gave Mizzou a 7-1 lead.

Sikkema was then lights out from there, surrendering a lone run in the eighth inning, to earn his fifth win of the season.

— Mizzou Athletics —