When Josh Holt Jr. was asked if he was excited for the looming start of SEC play, he just smiled.
“Yes, sir,” Holt said. “I’m excited for the environment.”
The freshman from Georgia has never played in front of big crowds like those of the Southeastern Conference. But how he played Tuesday, putting up a breakout game in a rare start for Missouri, will change that soon.
“Holt has been on my mind for a week,” head coach Steve Bieser said. "I felt I should have played him last week and I didn’t. I was trying to get some of our older, more experienced guys more at-bats and see if they can find it. … I knew that he needed an opportunity to play."
In Tuesday afternoon’s 16-1 blowout win for Missouri (10-5) over Arkansas State (11-6) at Taylor Stadium, Holt got that coveted opportunity. He ran with it.
“I was locked in,” Holt said. “I got my chance, and I took it."
Holt banged out three hits in his first starting role, scoring twice. He stole his second base of the year and made a great leaping catch at the left-field wall in front of Missouri’s bullpen in the top of the eighth.
“The ball was drifting, so I wanted to make it look cool,” Holt said.
Holt had a big day, but he was just one of several Tigers to shine Tuesday as Mizzou earned a more-than-comfortable midweek win over the Red Wolves. Shortstop Chris Cornelius and second baseman Mark Vierling each had two hits and drove in three runs.
“Everything’s clicking right now, so we just need to take that into SEC play,” Vierling said. “It’s going to be tough at Arkansas, but if we can do that at Arkansas we’ll be fine,” Vierling said.
The Tigers don’t have to face the No. 14 Razorbacks (12-2) until Friday in Fayetteville, simply beating up on the Hogs’ in-state brethren instead.
Missouri scored in six straight innings, including five frames of multiple runs. Once again, the Tigers did big damage in the third and fourth, with nine runs between the two innings. Each of Arkansas State’s first three pitchers allowed at least four earned runs.
On the Missouri side, pitching woes were nowhere to be found. Freshman Luke Mann got his first start — as well as two walks, a hit, three runs scored and an RBI from the dish — and allowed the Red Wolves’ only run. Even that came on a pair of bloop hits and a double down the line.
Mann pitched the first three innings, and redshirt junior Jordan Gubelman, following him, was even more dominant. Gubelman pitched three perfect innings and struck out six Red Wolves in the process.
“That was one of the most impressive bullpen performances I’ve seen in a long, long time,” Bieser said. “We’ve seen flashes of Goobs like that many times."
Gubelman, who transferred in last season from the State College of Florida, owns a 1.69 ERA on the season. Bieser said he was happy to have Gubelman and senior Cameron Dulle for critical relief situations.
“It would be really nice to have both Dulle and him that are really just stopper-type guys out of the bullpen,” Bieser said.
Outside of Gubelman’s veteran presence Tuesday, it was all freshmen. Seth Halvorsen got through 1 2/3 innings and Tommy Springer finished out the final 1 1/3.
Bieser was also able to flex his team’s depth in the field and at the plate, emptying his team’s bench around the seventh inning. Sixteen Tiger position players saw the field at some point.
“You’ve got a guy that hasn’t played in two or three weeks, and all of a sudden he’s got to start playing,” Bieser said. “You get those opportunities to get guys at-bats."
But the coach warned that Arkansas State wouldn’t be as easily defeated in the teams’ second and final game of the midweek set, slated for a 4 p.m. Wednesday start.
“Tomorrow’s a new day,” Bieser said. "They’re a high-powered offense and they’re going to come out and be ready to go tomorrow. They’re gonna wipe the slate clean and be back on the attack mode.”
But one thing will definitely be the same: On Wednesday, he said, Holt will start.
