No. 4 Mizzou defeated Eastern Illinois, 8-6, behind junior Rick Zagone’s longest outing of the year, tossing seven innings on Tuesday night in the first of two games at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O’Fallon, Mo. this week.
Zagone allowed five runs, three of which were earned, on seven hits in seven innings pitched. He struck out six and did not walk a batter, picking up his first victory since May 26, 2007. It was Zagone’s longest outing since he recorded a complete-game victory over Kansas State in April of 2007.
After Eastern Illinois took the lead on a solo home run by Jordan Tokarz, the Tigers answered by putting seven runs on the board in the bottom of the first. Senior Jacob Priday and freshman Andrew Thigpen had RBI singles and junior Kyle Mach hit a three run homer.
The Tigers improve to 29-10 on the year, and will play Southern Illinois at 6:30 p.m.
