Tigers play Z-Ball, shut out Bulldogs

The Missouri Tigers are mastering the art of Z-Ball.

Junior lefty Rob Zastryzny threw a complete game shutout Friday night as the Missouri Tigers (10-16, 3-7 SEC) beat Georgia, 4-0.

The story of the night was the clearly the performance of Zastryzny, who threw a gem. Zastryzny struck out four and walked none over nine shutout innings, marking his second career complete game shutout. It is also the first complete game shutout by a Tiger pitcher since Zastryzny did so on April 27 last season at Texas Tech.

In SEC play, Zastryzny has been nothing short of sensational, allowing just six earned runs in 30.1 innings of SEC play this season, good for a 1.79 ERA.

Keaton Steele provided the offense, hitting his first career Division I homer in the top of the fourth inning.

After Zastryzny pitched around two infield hits in the bottom of the third, the Tigers carried that momentum into the top fourth. Jake Ivory knocked a single to right field and then Steele followed with a two-run shot on a 2-0 pitch over the wall in left field.

Mizzou and Georgia will play game two of the series Saturday at 7 p.m. on ESPNU with Tom Hart and Chris Burke on the call.