COLUMBIA, Mo. – Bolstered by a pair of home runs, SIUE baseball erupted for eight runs in the eighth inning on its way to an 11-5 win over Missouri Tuesday at Taylor Stadium.
The Cougars improved to 22-19 overall and have won the last two meetings on the road against the Tigers.
The Cougars trailed 4-3 going into the inning and got home runs from Mack Mitchell and Cooper Eggert in the eighth inning. Both were two-run home runs. Ethan Willoughby hit a sacrifice fly to open the scoring in the inning and Daniel Gierer singled to drive in a run.
The Tigers used three pitchers to get through the inning. Juan Villarreal (1-1) started the inning and gave up four unearned runs to take the loss.
Mizzou led 3-0 after scoring single runs in the first, second and third innings.
SIUE tied the score in the sixth inning with a pair of home runs. Gage Franck led off the inning with his third of the season. Ryan Niedzwiedz singled and Joshua Heyder belted his 11th of the season to tie the game.
Mizzou took a 4-3 lead in the seventh with a sacrifice fly.
Brennen Grams (3-1) earned the win in relief. He worked 1.2 innings, allowing a run on a hit. He walked one and struck out two. Easton Harris struck out two in the ninth to close out the win.
Brady Coon allowed two runs in two innings in the start. He struck out one. Porter Conn allowed a run in two innings and Noah Johnson allowed a run over 2.1 innings.
Heyder, Mitchell and Eggert each finished with two RBIs. Niedzwiedz and Brenden Fry each finished with a pair of hits for the Cougars, who outhit Mizzou 11-5.
The Cougars will return to the Show Me state for a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series at Southeast Missouri beginning Friday.
