Tigers break through late against Murray State
Mark Vierling’s elbow wasn’t hurting anymore.
Missouri’s sophomore second baseman got plunked on the left arm in the bottom of the second inning of Tuesday night’s game against Murray State. The beanball nagged him throughout.
“My arm was killing me pretty much the entire game,” Vierling said.
Painkillers from the athletic trainers helped, but not as much as Vierling’s tie-breaking, game-winning single in the bottom of the eighth inning that gave the Tigers (12-8, 0-3 Southeastern Conference) a 2-1 win over Murray State (8-11, 4-2 Ohio Valley Conference).
“My adrenaline was going,” Vierling said. “So I was good.”
So were the Tigers, at least, as soon as Vierling’s base hit got down in left field. Racers outfielder Jake Slunder nearly hauled it in.
“I thought he was going to catch it all the way,” Vierling said.
The game ended in similar fashion, as reliever Jordan Gubelman sealed it with a check-swing strikeout. Gubelman, though, said he knew he had fooled pinch-hitter Sean Darmafall.
“It was awesome,” junior starter Art Joven said. “I’m glad we son."
Gubelman faced five batters, striking out four of them and allowing one hit. The redshirt senior right-hander got the win, but said the soft-spoken Joven should have been credited with the victory instead.
“Art definitely deserved to get it, but it so happens to be that I got it,” Gubelman said. “I’m happy. I’ll take it.”
Based on Joven’s reassuring performance Tuesday, Gubelman wasn’t far off. The transfer from the College of the Sequoias fanned ten over 7.2 one-run, two-hit innings.
“Everything was working for me,” Joven said. Head coach Steve Bieser provided a little more detail, highlighting his lefty’s excellent command of his curveball.
Joven only faced real danger in the third, loading the bases but limiting the Racers to a single run, their only tally of the game.
Then he retired 17 straight Murray State hitters. No. 9 batter Jordan Holly reached on a nice bunt with two out in the eighth, then got picked off and stole second. Bieser summoned Gubelman.
“I already had it in my mind that (Joven) wasn’t going to go back through the guys a fourth time,” Bieser said. “We got back to the top of the order, so he was coming out.”
Gubelman fanned Tyler Duke to end the top of the inning, and Vierling delivered in the bottom of the frame.
Neither Missouri's second baseman nor its coach were particularly thrilled with a meager offensive output, though. The Tigers scored 13, 16 and 14 runs in their three home midweek games this season.
Three close losses at No. 10 Arkansas over the weekend didn’t help, the Tigers admitted.
“We’re used to playing really tight games, so I guess we decided we wanted to play a really tight game tonight,” Bieser said. “I don’t know."
To Vierling, the weekend sweep in Fayetteville didn’t help as the Tigers came out flat, stranding eight runners on the base paths.
“We’ve just got to come up with a better approach,” Vierling said. “We were so dead today.”
Much like Vierling’s elbow, the Tigers didn’t stay dead. He got painkillers from the athletic trainer and felt better, then delivered.
“That was big, and I got congratulated by a lot of the guys,” Vierling said. “They said, ‘Thank you.’”
Missouri will try to open up its offense at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Tigers’ second game of this midweek set with Murray State.