Bond's five hit performance carries Tigers to easy win

"Ever since I got here I've wanted to start," Montes De Oca said. "Showing up today and seeing my name in the lineup as the starting pitcher, it was an awesome feeling to see that and just kind of reflect on everything that's gotten me to this point."

Missouri's pitching staff as a whole was spectacular in the game. Redshirt junior Ryan Lee came in to relieve Montes De Oca in the sixth inning and was able to collect seven strikeouts in his three innings of work. Freshman righty Evan Stoll closed the game out for the Tigers, striking out two in the ninth. 

Brett Bond had the biggest performance of the day for Missouri, going 5-5 at the plate with three runs scored and an RBI. Bond's five-hit game was the first by a Tiger since April 23, 2011, when Jonah Schmidt had five at Baylor. However, Bond was content speaking to the strong outing from Montes De Oca.

"I mean it was nasty," Bond said. "He throws the ball hard and its got some movement. He's so tall and just so strong, you've got to be really focused as a catcher to catch that guy because he's got big league stuff."

Montes De Oca got a little shaky in the top of the fourth when he hit infielder Matt Albert, then threw a wild pitch that allowed third baseman Dougie Parks to score. But the Tigers quickly got that run back for their starting pitcher with Glendinning singling, then later scoring on a groundout from third baseman Alex Samples. 

While head coach Steve Bieser was pleased with the overall performance, he knows his team has a lot left to improve on.

"We preach all the time about playing nine innings of baseball and staying engaged for nine innings and I really felt the energy fall out there at the end," Bieser said. "That's a little alarming but we addressed it and got them reengaged there in that eighth inning and they came out and responded so that was a good sign."

The Tigers will look to push their winning streak to 12 on Wednesday, when they take on Western Carolina at home with the first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.

Supervising editor is Jonathan McKay.