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SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Led by Trevor Austin’s first multi-homer game as a Tiger, Mizzou clubbed four long balls and rode 4 1/3 shutout innings of relief from Brock Lucas to a 6-3 victory over CSU Bakersfield Thursday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Austin homered in the second inning—one of three Tigers to hit solo shots in the second—then went deep to lead off the fifth to put Mizzou (3-1) in front to stay. The senior from Jefferson City finished the night 2-for-4 with two RBIs, while freshman Drew Culbertson registered a 3-for-4 performance to lead the Tigers’ 11-hit attack.
On the hill, Lucas (1-0) took over for starter Javyn Pimental with the potential go-ahead run in scoring position in the fourth. The sophomore extinguished that threat by inducing a pop-up, then worked out of jams in three of the next four frames, before handing the ball off to closer Jacob Peaden in the ninth. After a leadoff single by Matt Kurata—the CSUB catcher’s fifth hit of the night—Peaden picked up a key strikeout, but a walk to Brock Perreira brought the tying run to the plate.
That’s when the Tiger defense delivered, as first baseman Jackson Lovich atoned for an earlier miscue by turning in a diving catch of a Cody Hendriks liner for the final out of the contest—and Mizzou’s third-straight win.
The victory for Mizzou was made possible by contributions from up and down its lineup, as well as a pitching staff that struck out 10 Roadrunners and stranded 12 baserunners. Pimental fanned five hitters, including three in the opening inning, despite surrendering Kurata’s first hit on a one-out solo shot to left.
In his first start of the season, Isaiah Frost led off the second with a solo blast to left center for not only his first homer as a Tiger, but also the first hit of his collegiate career. With two out, Culbertson sent his first round-tripper as a Tiger over the left-field wall to stake MU to a 2-1 lead. Austin then capped the second-inning power surge with a long drive of his own, extending the lead to two runs.
After the Roadrunners scored single tallies in the second and fourth innings to draw even at 3-3, Austin powered up again, launching a mammoth drive to left-center off CSUB starter Ryan Verdugo (0-1) for the 18th home run of his Mizzou career.
The Tigers tacked on two more runs in the seventh, creating some breathing room on RBI doubles by Jedier Hernandez and Jeric Curtis, after Lovich singled and stole second to spark the rally.
From there, Lucas and Peaden combined to limit CSUB to four hits over the final 5.1 innings, striking out five more batters in the process.
Kurata, who came us just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, turned in a 5-for-5 performance to lead the Roadrunners, who dropped their fifth consecutive game to start the season.
TIGER NOTEBOOK
- Missouri claimed its third straight road victory, marking its first three-game win streak on the road since Feb. 24-26, 2023.
- The Tigers improved to 168-67 in non-conference action since 2014, including a 41-7 mark since the start of the 2022 campaign.
- The trio of Austin, Culbertson and Frost became the fourth, fifth and sixth Tigers to homer in the first four games of the season.
- Austin’s two-homer night marked his first in 121 career games as a Tiger.
- The Tigers improved to 3-0 on the season when hitting at least one home run.
- Mizzou has out-homered the opposition by a 7-1 count on the season.
- Lucas matched a career high for innings pitched (4.1) and earned his first victory of the season, improving to 4-1 for his career.
- Peaden locked up his second save in as many appearances this season and the third of his collegiate career.
- Mizzou improved to 25-33 overall against schools from the state of California.
UP NEXT
Mizzou will square off against host San Diego State in an 8 p.m. contest Friday (Feb. 23) at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
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