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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – One day after using a dominant pitching effort to earn its first victory of the 2024 season, Missouri baseball rode a red-hot offense to a 12-8 win over Cal Poly Saturday morning at Baggett Stadium.
Led by a career-best three hits from outfielder Jeric Curtis, the Tigers (2-1) scored in five different innings and gashed Mustang pitching for 13 hits — eight of which went for extra bases. Four Tigers logged multi-hit performances, with Curtis finishing 3-for-4 with a walk, an RBI, a stolen base and an RBI.
Curtis sparked a pair of Mizzou rallies with extra-base hits and finished the day just a home run away from hitting for the cycle. The Texas Tech transfer also singled as part of the game’s defining six-run Tiger rally in the fourth inning.
After Mizzou pitching shackled the Mustangs in a one-hit, 3-1 victory in game two of Friday’s season-opening doubleheader, Cal Poly (1-2) wasted no time in finding an offensive rhythm in the third contest of the series. With two out in bottom of the first, first baseman Joe Yorke started the rally with a single to center before moving into scoring position on a passed ball. An RBI single by Evan Cloyd opened the scoring, before a pair of MU errors added another tally for a 2-0 Mustang lead.
The Tigers answered with a run in the top of the second courtesy of back-to-back, two-out doubles by Curtis and freshman Mateo Serna. Mizzou took its first lead of the day in the third after Thomas Curry doubled home a run, and Danny Corona bounced a chopper to the right side to bring in the go-ahead run.
Cal Poly had an immediate response for Mizzou and starting pitcher Logan Lunceford in the bottom half, as consecutive singles by Jake Steels and Ryan Stafford started a five-hit inning that ended with the Mustangs back on top, 4-3.
MU answered again the following inning, evening the score on Justin Colon’s solo shot to lead off the fourth, before Curtis singled and Trevor Austin doubled for the second time in the contest. Cal Poly reliever Ethan Marmie hit back-to-back hitters and uncorked a wild pitch to bring in two runs, before Jackson Lovich’s bases-loaded double with two out chased home two more baserunners to double the Mizzou lead. Colon delivered his second hit of the inning — an RBI single that stretched the Tiger advantage to 9-4.
The Mustangs, who out-hit the Tigers by a 16-to-13 count, scored a pair of runs in the home half of the fourth to draw to within three runs.
But Mizzou left-hander Daniel Wissler held Cal Poly in check long enough for the Tiger offense to reclaim its footing. Wissler retired six of the first seven hitters he faced and logged 3.1 innings in total, allowing just two runs on five hits to earn the victory.
Mizzou added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth to push the margin back to five runs, thanks once again to the hitting of Curtis. With one on and two out, the sophomore lined a run-scoring triple into the left-center field gap, then trotted home on a balk to make it an 11-6 game.
Cal Poly scored two in the seventh on Alejandro Garza’s double, but Wissler retired Liam MacDonald on a liner to short, then struck out Tate Shimao to strand a pair of baserunners and preserve the 11-8 lead.
After Lovich homered to extend the advantage back to four runs in the top of the eighth, Brock Lucas would extinguish another Mustang threat, getting Cloyd on a comebacker with two on, before retiring Kordic on a fly ball to end the inning.
Lucas finished off his first save as a Tiger with a scoreless ninth, working around a one-out single with a strikeout and a game-ending pop-up.
TIGER NOTEBOOK
- Missouri claimed back-to-back road victories for the first time since securing three-straight wins at FIU last February.
- The Tigers scored double-digit runs for first time since crossing the plate 14 times against Georgia on May 14, 2023.
- MU’s 11 runs represented its first double-digit total since April 15, 2023 at Texas A&M.
- Austin finished the day 2-for-5, recording two doubles for the second time in his career (March 17, 2023).
- Curtis’ three hits on the day, not only marked his first as a Tiger, but also a new career high.
- Curtis hit the first triple by a Tiger since Ross Lovich accomplished the feat on May 12, 2023 against Georgia.
- Colon (2-for-5) registered his fourth career multi-hit game with two hits on the day, including his fifth career home run, and two RBIs.
- Jackson Lovich (2-for-5) hit his second career home run and drove in three runs.
- Serna doubled home a run to put MU on the board in his first at-bat in a Tiger uniform.
- Serna and fellow freshman Charlie Miller each made their collegiate debuts for Mizzou.
- A total of 11 Tigers have made their first appearances for Mizzou through the first three games of the season.
UP NEXT
The Tigers and Mustangs are scheduled to conclude their four-game series Sunday (Feb. 18) with a 3 p.m. game, weather permitting.
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