COLUMBIA, Mo. - The La Salle baseball team concluded its three-game set against Southeastern Conference foe Missouri with a doubleheader on Saturday. The Explorers dropped the first game, 7-1, before suffering a 7-0 setback in the nightcap. Junior
Brian Tagoe reached base four times over the pair of contests as La Salle dropped to 4-10 on the season.
Game 1 | Missouri 7, La Salle 1
The home team got on the board first as four runs in the opening frame allowed the Tigers to take control. Kameron Misner shot an RBI double into the right-centerfield gap to score the contest's first run, then came around to score on a single by Brian Sharp. Another run-scoring double by Brett Bond plated Sharp, with Bond eventually crossing home plate on a groundout.
Two innings later, Missouri scored three more runs to take a commanding 7-0 lead. From that point on, however, La Salle's pitching staff was able to limit the Tigers to just one hit over the final five innings. Sophomore
Jackson Ray went 3.0 innings and struck out three, with classmate
Sebastian Martinez and junior
Connor Hinchliffe tossed a scoreless frame each.
Offensively, the Explorers broke through in the top of the eighth as freshman
Tommy Toal drove in Hinchliffe with a single up the middle. La Salle looked primed to add more, but Missouri was able to escape a bases-loaded, one-out jam with a strikeout and pop out.
Michael Plassmeyer picked up the win for Mizzou, going 8.0 innings and striking out 10 while allowing five hits and one walk.
Colin Kennedy fell to 0-2 on the season, as he allowed seven earned runs over three innings of work.
Game 2 | Missouri 7, La Salle 0
Andy Toelken took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and Missouri completed a three-game sweep of the Explorers, earning a 7-0 win in the nightcap of a doubleheader on Saturday. As was the case in the opening half of the twinbill, the Tigers jumped out to an early lead in the first.
Zach Hanna had a run-scoring base hit and Sharp also drove in a run as Missouri led 2-0 after the first inning. From there, sophomore
Matt Holt settled in and faced the minimum over the next three innings. The righthander ran into trouble in the fifth, as a pair of singles and bases on balls resulted in a run for the Tigers, who bumped their lead to 3-0.
After a pitching change, Missouri scored four more times to take control. Bond provided the big blow with a two-run single to center.
Toelken had his no-no broken up in the top of the sixth, as
Brett Simon led off with a single.
Ben Faso also registered a base hit in the inning, but the Explorers stranded a pair in what would prove to be one of their two opportunities to score. Simon also registered a knock in the eighth and La Salle put two more on, but a comebacker to the pitcher ended the inning.
CJ Pruitt was a bright spot in relief for the Explorers, going 2.1 innings and allowing just a single hit while striking out two. Holt suffered the loss, going 4.1 and allowing six earned runs. Toelken went six innings of two-hit ball to improve to 2-1 on the year.
La Salle concludes its season-opening 15-game road swing at Fairleigh Dickinson on Wednesday, March 14. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.
