MONROE, La. – Sophomore right-hander Austin Troesser tossed a career-high five innings to help Missouri baseball earn a 4-2 Sunday win and a two-game sweep of Louisiana-Monroe.
The Tigers (6-1) were dominant on the hill, with Troesser earning his second win of the year with five innings while surrendering just one run. The hard-throwing righty allowed just three hits, all singles, while striking out four Warhawks in the outing. Behind him, Carter Rustad tossed three scoreless frames, striking out four while allowing just one hit.
With a 4-1 lead, Mizzou turned the ball over to senior Austin Cheeley who earned his second save, recovering from a pop-up lost in the sun, to close the door on ULM (1-4).
At the plate, senior Josh Day went 2-for-5 with a solo home run. Sophomore Ross Lovich finished 2-for-4 with a solo homer and two runs scored. The long ball was the first of Lovich’s collegiate career.
IMPACT INNING
Leading 1-0 in the top of the fifth, Lovich and Day uncorked back-to-back one-out home runs to extend the Tiger advantage to 3-0. The twin homers proved to be all Mizzou would need to earn its sixth win of the season.
TOP TIGERS
Austin Troesser: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 K, 1 BB
Ross Lovich: 2-for-4, HR, 2 R
Josh Day: 2-for-5, HR
Carter Rustad: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 K, 0 BB
IN THE NOTES
- Lovich and Day’s back-to-back homers were the first consecutive blasts by Tigers since Kameron Misner and Peter Zimmermann went back-to-back against Kentucky on April 7, 2019.
- Day extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a 2-for-5 day. His home run was his team-leading third of the season.
- With three stolen bases on Sunday, the Tigers improved to 19-for-19 on steal attempts this season.
- Cheeley now has a win and two saves in three appearances on the mound for the Tigers.
- Tre Morris added a 2-for-5 day at the plate to finish off a five-hit weekend.
FROM THE SKIP
Coach Bieser on the opening road trip…
“Proud of the way the guys responded on this road trip. We had some games packed in here and had some weather, had some issues. They stayed right on task and did a great job all weekend long – really for the seven games that we got to play here. So, played some good baseball, we left some runs out on the field today that we could’ve opened this game up a little bit better, but overall, we’ve learned a lot and we’re just continuing to get better.”
UP NEXT
After a two-week, season-opening road swing, Mizzou returns home to face Tarleton State in a three-game series beginning Friday, March 4.
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