Baseballs flew out and hats flew off and wind blew rain across the field in a delightfully crazy, lengthy and offense-fueled Missouri win over Northwestern on Saturday at Taylor Stadium.
The Tigers (8-5) slugged four homers and three doubles, scored in each of the first six innings and put up consecutive five-run frames in their 16-11 victory over the Wildcats (4-8). They batted around and scored five runs in the third inning, then followed up the seemingly interminable frame by sending nine men to the plate and scoring five more in the fourth.
Senior Tony Ortiz went deep twice while juniors Chris Cornelius and Kameron Misner each hit long balls. Taylor Stadium was more conducive than ever to power hitters on both sides, yielding four home runs to right or right-center — Northwestern’s Casey O’Laughlinhad one — and Ortiz’s second homer, which went out to left center field.
Gusts of wind blew Wildcats center fielder David Dunn’s cap off his head countless times in Saturday’s game, and the wind combined with rain in the sixth inning to spice things up. No official delays came of the deluge, but Ortiz cowered at one point near the first-base dugout as swaths of water blew from left to right.
“That wind was pretty brutal,” Ortiz said. “The rain was hitting me hard in the face, so I put my head down until the pitch was thrown.”
Head coach Steve Bieser was worried about a delay or postponement, but ultimately, the teams were able to avoid playing more innings Sunday.
“I really was hoping we could get through this game somehow,” Bieser said. “It wasn’t fun to get through those last few innings, but I was hoping we’d get through it so we wouldn’t have to pick up the game and then play another full game tomorrow."
Jordan Gubelman pitched the rainy sixth, working around a double to pitch a scoreless sixth regardless of inclemency in the elements. He was the first man out of the bullpen in place of lefty Jacob Cantleberry, who scuffled in the second and third innings but saw his leash extended with each new Tiger run.
Cantleberry walked four men in those two innings alone, giving up a run in the second on a Shawn Goosenberg single and two more in the third on a base hit from O’Laughlin. Northwestern’s left fielder later doubled his RBI total with his two-run homer off Cantleberry in the fifth.
“I wasn’t very pleased with Cantleberry," Bieser said. “The five walks, and we would score and get a lead and he’d give it up, and we’d go back and tie it up and he’d give it back up."
The Tigers got a run in the first and saw Northwestern answer quickly in the second; their two-run lead from the second inning disappeared by the third. Missouri and Northwestern were tied at 3-all heading into the bottom of the third when it all began to unravel for the Wildcats. Of the seven batters starter Hank Christie faced in the frame, the Tigers’ best hitter, Kameron Misner, made the only out. The other six bombarded the junior right-hander.
Luke Mann drove in Connor Brumfield with a base hit, then Ortiz unloaded for a two-run shot to left. With a runner on later in the inning, Cornelius came up looking for a fastball on the inside part of the plate. He didn’t get one
.“I was looking for a fastball middle-in, but he threw it away and I just stayed on it,” Cornelius said.
He took the pitch out to right for a back-breaking two-run homer that put MU up 8-3 and capped the five-run third inning. In an even uglier fourth, Missouri scored runs on an error, a wild pitch and a balk, as well as two singles to center field. The frame put away Northwestern for good, though the Wildcats kept trying. They added two in the eighth and four more in the ninth to add to the game’s massive run total and keep up the fight.
“It was a tough day to pitch, a great day to hit, and I think both teams took advantage of that,” Bieser said.
The Tigers have totaled 32 runs in their first three games at Taylor Stadium after some struggles with runners in scoring position early in the season.
“I think over the week in general, we talked as a team and kind of found ourselves and what we think of ourselves and the confidence came back,” Ortiz said. “We just swing at good pitches and let the bad ones go."
He said he didn’t foresee Sunday’s 1 p.m. game to run as long as Saturday’s tilt of nearly four hours, subtly announcing tomorrow’s starting pitcher in the process.
“I’m expecting Tyler LaPlante to just go out there and carve through hitters, and let’s move it along quickly,” Bieser said.
