COLUMBIA, Mo. – SIUE baseball downed Missouri Tuesday, winning 5-4 at Taylor Stadium on the Mizzou campus.
SIUE improved to 12-21. Missouri dropped to 15-19. The win is the first for the Cougars over the Tigers since 2011.
"It feels good, and I am happy for the guys," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "We played solid baseball. No matter who you play, if you play good baseball you're going to have a chance to win."
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning thanks to a sacrifice fly.
SIUE starter Jacob Kampf worked four innings allowing just the run on four hits. He walked three and struck out three.
"Jacob Kampf got out of some jams early," Lyons said. "It's good for Jacob to have a solid outing."
SIUE got out on top in the fifth with three hits. Daniel Gierer singled and stole second base before Zack Floyd walked. Drew Mize laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners. Lucas Spence singled to center to score two and Chase Bloomer drove home a run with an infield hit.
Sean Kang singled with one out in the sixth and scored on a double to the left field corner by Gierer for a 4-1 SIUE lead.
Mizzou answered with a three-run bottom of the sixth inning, before the Cougars took the lead again in the seventh. Ryan Niedzwiedz walked and stole second base before scoring on a single to left center by Ethan Willoughby.
Missouri threatened in the ninth inning against SIUE reliever Alex Rodriguez, who walked the first two hitters in the inning. When a pitch hit the dirt, Jackson Beaman sprinted for third, only to be thrown out by SIUE catcher Sean Kang for the first out.
"That was a huge momentum swing," Lyons said of the play. "It was a great play, a great reaction and a great throw."
Rodriguez retired the next two hitters on groundouts to earn his first save of the year.
"It was a confidence-lift for Rodriguez," Lyons added. "You could tell the way he attacked the next two hitters.
Ian Benner (2-0) tossed 2.2 innings for the win. He allowed a run and struck out three.
"Ian Benner was outstanding for us tonight," Lyons said.
Spence was 2-5 for the game with a pair of RBIs and a run scored. Spence extended his hitting streak to 18 games, which is the longest for a Cougar player in the Division I era. Bloomer was 3-5. Gierer was 2-4.
"A win like this builds confidence," Lyons said. "The confidence comes from guys getting some big hits and the team executing some bunts and some guys coming out of the pen and having some good outings."
SIUE returns to Ohio Valley Conference play when it begins a three-game series on the road at Eastern Illinois Friday afternoon.
