It’s not often that a batter has more walks than at-bats after three games.
It’s not often that a batter has more extra base hits than strikeouts, or that his OPS sits more than a thousand points higher than just about anybody else’s. But that’s exactly what Kameron Misner did in Missouri’s 2-games-to-1 opening series win over Florida International.
After posting a respectable .806 OPS in his freshman year, Misner’s sophomore season has come with lofty expectations. If Misner were to take a step forward in production in the No. 3 slot in Missouri’s lineup, the Tigers would be in pretty good shape. That effect was evident in their first series in Miami.
Against a Panthers pitching staff with loads of pedigree and potential, Missouri’s bats proved up to the task. They came out rather cold in the season opener, tallying three runs — two of which were caused by wild pitches — but the Tigers put up a combined 27 runs in the next two outings.
In game one, Bryce Montes de Oca received his first chance to prove himself as Missouri’s bona fide ace, the only man capable of replacing the production lost when Tanner Houck left for the draft. Though it may have been a rocky outing — Montes de Oca walked seven and only struck out one in 3.2 innings — the righty limited the damage, not allowing a run despite running into constant trouble.
In the fourth inning, Montes de Oca walked the bases loaded with two outs, and Steve Bieser had his first opportunity to use his best bullpen arm. These are the situations specifically cut out for T.J. Sikkema — opposing runners on base in a close game, regardless of the inning. Sikkema was dominant in relief, striking out seven while only allowing four hits, one walk and an earned run over five innings. He kept the Tigers afloat when their bats couldn’t come through, until the 9th inning when Brian Sharp and Chris Cornelius scored on wild pitches. Missouri escaped with a 3-1 win on opening night.
In game two, Missouri jumped all over touted freshman Logan Allen and the Panthers, putting up almost two dozen runs in a 22-1 rout that was over from the start. The Tigers’ run counts through the first five innings: 4, 3, 3, 1, 8. Misner, of course, was the main culprit — he went 3-5 with three hits, two walks, five RBI and two home runs. Every Tiger starter recorded a hit.
The early commanding lead eased the pressure off of Michael Plassmeyer, the junior out of St. Louis. He struck out eight, walked one and only allowed an earned run over five innings. Missouri’s 22 runs was the most it’s had since it put up 27 on Eastern Michigan almost a year ago.
In the top of the fifth inning of game three, it appeared Missouri was on its way to a series sweep when Zach Hanna cleared the bases with a 3-RBI double to give his team a 5-2 lead. Florida International answered right back in the bottom half of the frame, though, when it took a 6-5 lead by way of an Eddie Silva two-run home run and a two-run RBI double by Christian Khawam.
The Panthers tallied five more runs in the eighth, and the Tigers were incapable of mounting a comeback. Though reliever Cody Siebenberger received the loss after allowing a run in the fifth inning, Andy Toelken wasn’t sharp in his first start: six hits, two strikeouts and five earned runs in four innings.
Though this was absolutely not the case in game two, Missouri showed some struggles cashing in on scoring opportunities in the other two contests. In games one and three, the Tigers batted .111 with runners in scoring position and .107 with runners on base. Conclusions shouldn’t be drawn out of such a small sample size — and these numbers are balanced out by Missouri’s game two performance — but their inability to come up with clutch hits almost cost them the opener and kept them out of game three when they fell behind.
However, against a solid team in Florida International, Missouri turned in an all-around performance that is encouraging in many ways. Five Tigers are hitting .300 or higher after the series, and the pitching staff was solid in all facets.
Missouri will look to keep it rolling when it takes on Miami on Wednesday in Coral Gables, Florida.
