After a long day for both teams and 16 innings of baseball, the Missouri Tigers baseball team swept the Evansville Aces in their doubleheader on Saturday, winning game one 6-2 and game two 17-7 in seven innings.
The first game got off to a great start for the Tigers, making up for their loss yesterday, by putting up three runs in the bottom of the first. Two walks and a stolen base put runners at the corners with one out for Cayden Nicoletto, who singled in the Tigers' first run of the game to right-center.
A Brady Picarelli single and a Brock Daniels sac-fly brought in two more runs for the Tigers, giving them a 3-0 lead at the end of the first inning.
Starting pitcher Wil Libbert allowed two runs to the Aces in the top of the second on a sac-fly and an RBI-single but settled down afterward, delivering the best outing of his career. He was pulled after 5.2 innings, allowing just the two runs on five hits while striking out a career-high seven batters.
“He (Libbert) really took advantage of his time last year being a freshman,” head coach Kerrick Jackson said about his game-one pitcher. “I challenged him to do scouting reports on opponents when he was sitting in the dugout, and we wanted it to be a passing year so we could cut down on some of the learning curves.”
Libbert was taken out of the game with two outs in the sixth after throwing 99 pitches, and Nic Smith came in as the first arm out of the bullpen. After Smith gave up a single to the first batter he faced, Serna provided some help from behind the plate, recording a back pick at second to end the inning.
That was all for Smith, who was replaced after just one out by freshman pitcher PJ Green, who finished off the game on the mound for the final three innings. To support Green, the Tigers added two more runs to their total.
After a leadoff HBP, Gehrig Goldbeck advanced to third on two wild pitches and scored on an error in left field on a Picarelli fly ball. Picarelli advanced to third on the error and was brought in by the next batter, Daniels, who drove him in with an RBI-groundout, giving the Tigers a 6-2 lead. Green held onto the lead and led the Tigers to the game-one win.
The Tigers outhit the Purple Aces 11-9, with Kaden Peer leading the way with a 3-for-4 day. Picarelli and Daniels each drove in two RBIs to lead the team in that category.
Libbert (1-1) was awarded the win, while Evansville’s Owen Byberg (0-1) took the loss. Green (1) was credited with the save.
“I thought there were some things we could have done better in game one,” Jackson said about the team after both games. “But I think we made those adjustments in game two and had a complete game.”
Game two was all Tigers right from the start, even more so than game one, as they put up four runs in the first and three in the second. After the first three Tigers batters reached base and the Aces recorded their first out, three straight RBI-singles from Picarelli, Daniels, and Peyton Basler, along with a fielder's choice from Trey Lawrence, put the Tigers up 4-0 by the end of the first.
The next three runs came off the bats of Peer, who hit a bomb, and Nicoletto, who doubled in an RBI and scored on a passed ball, putting the Tigers up 7-0 through just two innings. These runs provided solid support for starter Kadden Drew, who tied his season high with 6 innings pitched, set a new career high with 5 strikeouts, and took a no-hitter into the sixth before giving up a one-out double.
Drew gave up two runs in the sixth, bringing the Aces back to within six runs, but that was all they could manage. The Tigers responded by adding another three runs in the bottom half of the sixth on a bases-clearing triple from Basler, putting them up 11-2. By the time the inning was over, the Tigers had scored nine runs and were leading 17-2.
Seth McCartney came in to relieve Drew after his six innings of work and 80 pitches. After giving up five runs and bringing the Aces back to within one run of keeping the game going, McCartney struck out the final batter of the seventh, securing the 17-7 win in seven innings for the Tigers.
Between the two games, the Tigers combined for 23 runs and 27 hits, while the Aces recorded 14 runs on 17 hits. The Aces struck out 15 times against Tigers pitchers—nine times in the first game and six in the second.
The Tigers have a chance to finish off the series on a high note after their two wins today, with one more game on Sunday starting at 1 p.m. at Taylor Stadium.
“I think the biggest deal for me was that we had an approach based on each pitcher that came into the game,” Jackson said about his players. “We knew what was coming in based on the scouting reports we had, and our guys finally stuck to that.”