Mizzou Baseball Drops Season Opener

Photo by Ben Walton

The Missouri Tigers started the 2013 baseball season on a losing note Friday at Southern Mississippi.  The Tigers were shut down by Golden Eagles pitcher Andrew Pierce. Pierce gave up one earned run and struck out nine batters in seven innings of work, as Southern Mississippi beat Mizzou 5-2. Pierce was a first-team All-Conference USA selection in 2012 after going 7-4 with a 1.99 ERA.

Rob Zastryzny recorded the loss for Missouri. Zastryzny gave up four hits and three runs in 5.1 innings. Southern Mississippi only had six hits in the ballgame, but the Tiger’s pitching staff struggled to keep runners off the base paths. Missouri walked six batters and hit two others. The Tiger’s defense also committed two errors.

Newcomer, Kendall Keeton, had a terrific opening day. Keeton went 3-3 with an RBI. Keeton joins the Tigers in 2013 after playing the previous two seasons at Walters State Community College in Morristown, TN.

The Tigers and Eagles could be considered lucky to even be playing on Friday, as an EF-4 tornado struck Hattiesburg, MS on Sunday evening. The tornado injured at least 19 people in Hattiesburg and damaged parts of Southern Mississippi’s campus. The University of Missouri is asking all fans that are tweeting about the games this weekend to use the hashtag: #PrayForHattiesburg.

Mizzou and Southern Miss will continue the series tomorrow at 2:00pm and Sunday at 1:00pm in Hattiesburg.