Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, Texas is home to the Frisco Classic which hosts the collegiate baseball programs of Arizona, Oklahoma, Dallas Baptist University and Missouri. The event is organized by Peak Events and takes place March 4-7 supporting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Great baseball for a great cause. The weather was beautiful and there were fans in attendance at Dr. Pepper Ballpark for a fun-filled day of baseball.
The nightcap was the Missouri Tigers vs the Dallas Baptist University Patriots. This game did not disappoint, but not for the same reasons as that first matchup which saw over 30 runs combined. The Tigers started Lukas Veinburgs, the 5th year senior out of Michigan and DBU went with Kyle Rich, the redshirt freshman out of Keller, Texas.
It was a pitcher's duel for much of the game as Veinburgs and Rich were exchanging strikeouts to keep their respective teams within striking distance. Missouri struck first in the top of the 3rd when SS Josh Day double to left center with two down off Rich, driving in Torin Montgomery to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. In the top of the 5th, Rich got into some trouble and the Patriots went to their bullpen bringing in RHP Rhett Kouba.
Kouba was able to minimize the damage and only gave up one run, that was charged to Rich after the Tigers added to their lead on a one out single to left by Brandt Belk to make it 2-0. Missouri threatened again in the top of the 7th but Kouba was able to work out of the jam with some help from 3B Jackson Glenn who made a nifty over the shoulder grab on a pop up in foul territory up the LF line.
The DBU offense had struggled mightily all night. Patriots were getting their leadoff man on almost every inning but were unable to get the timely hit to get on the scoreboard. Kouba continued to deal and kept it at 2-0. In the bottom of the 8th the Patriots once again had runners on and were threatening when freshman catcher Ryan Wrobleski reached on a fielder's choice and beat out a double play ball to drive in a run and cut the lead in half. Missouri then intentionally walked River Town to get to the senior Jackson Glenn who had made that difficult catch in foul territory the inning before. Glenn came through with RISP and drove in the go ahead runs with a double down the third base line off Zach Hise to put DBU on top 3-2.
The Patriots called on freshman righty Zane Russell to shut the door on the Tigers and he did just that, getting Josh Day to ground out to first after giving up a 2 out single to Ross Lovich. Russell got the save after pitching the 9th and Rhett Kouba earns the win after a great outing in relief of starter Kyle Rich. The DBU pitchers struck out 12 Tigers and scattered 5 hits.
Dallas Baptist escapes with the win to improve to 6-2 despite committing two errors, striking out 10 times and leaving 12 runners on. The Patriots also were held below 7 runs for the first time this season. Both teams square off again tonight at 6pm. The Tigers will be the home team and DBU the visitors.
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