Tigers Near Big 7 Title After Beating O.U., 6-3

Open Series With Huskers Today
(Columbia Daily Tribune, Monday May 17, 1954)

The Missouri Tigers neared their second Big Seven baseball championship in three years by downing the second place Oklahoma Sooners, 6-3, Saturday afternoon for a sweep of the two-game series at Rollins field. It was Missouri's seventh straight conference win.

Now the Bengals, who open a two-game set with Nebraska here today, need only two victories in their four remaining contests to clinch at least a tie for the crown. Three wins would sew up the championship, regardless of how the Sooners fare in their last four games.

Iowa State still has an outside chance at the pennant, but the Cyclones would have to sweep their series with both the Sooners and Tigers and Missouri would have to drop one of its games with Nebraska.

Ed Cook was scheduled to pitch for the Tigers against the Cornhuskers today, with either Emil Kammer or Gene Gastineau due to start tomorrow's game.

Saturday the Bengals broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning with a three-run rally capped by Bob Musgrave's home run over the right field fence. The Sooners had tied the score in their half with two unearned runs off Bert Beckmann, who went the distance for Missouri.

Oklahoma scored its first run in the first inning when, with two out, Beckmann walked Joe Snyder and Jim Crabb. Bill Knox then shot a single past third to score Snyder. The Tigers got that one back in their half on walks to Dick Dickinson and Jerry Schoonmaker, Pitcher Mac Sanders' late throw on Todd Sickel's grounder, and Bob Schoonmaker's single off third-baseman Bill Knox' glove.

Missouri took a 3-1 lead in the third. Sickel and Musgrave opened with singles, advanced as Sanders threw out Jerry Schoonmaker, and crossed the plate on George Gleason's line single to left.

Beckmann held the Sooners at bay until the seventh, when the Tiger defense faltered. Orville Rickey reached first base on Sickel's fumble, and after Sanders forced Rickey, Dickinson booted Sterling Jones' grounder. Sickel made a fine stop on Fred Minton's hot smash to force Sanders at third, but Snyder singled to center, scoring Jones. Crabb drew a pass to load the bases and Minton scored when Gleason threw low trying to pick Crabb off first. Knox walked to load the bases again, but Beckmann got Johnny Risinger on a grounder to Buddy Cox.

Dickinson and Sickel quickly atoned for their errors in the Tiger seventh. Dickinson opened with a single to left and scored on Sickel's double to the left field fence. Musgrave then blasted a pitch over the fence in right center for two insurance runs and that was all Beckmann needed.



Looking at who Musgrave styled himself after and remembering that this was 1954 Missouri, his average better have been way up there.

``He was a fellow who had copied Stan Musial's corkscrew batting stance,'' said Bill Callahan, the MU sports information director of that era. Musgrave
patterned himself after the Cardinal great while growing up in Columbia.

``It was complete emulation,'' Musgrave said.

(Columbia Daily Tribune, May 14, 1994)