When asked about the game afterward, head coach Kerrick Jackson said, “We had a bunch of letdowns because we had some opportunities to push some runs across early to keep us in it and keep chipping away. But yeah, we were just in a bad headspace. I’m not sure why.”
With a chance to improve their SEC Tournament seeding with a weekend sweep, the Missouri Tigers (16-38) couldn’t carry over the magic from last weekend, falling 25-7 to Mississippi State in the series opener Friday at Taylor Stadium.
With Mizzou freshman Brady Kehlenbrink on the mound, the Bulldogs jumped on him early — and that proved to be just the beginning of what turned into a lopsided rout.
Back-to-back hits to start the game put runners on first and third with no outs, and the Bulldogs scored their first run on a wild pitch. They added two more — both unearned — before the end of the inning. One came on a dropped pop-up by second baseman Keegan Knutson, and the other on an RBI single, giving Mississippi State an early 3-0 lead.
Mississippi State added four more runs before Kehlenbrink was pulled in the fourth inning — two on solo home runs in the second and fourth, and two more on a two-run shot that chased him from the game and extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 7-0 with one out in the fourth.
Brady Kehlenbrink’s final line: 3.1 IP, 7 H, 7 R (5 ER), 0 BB, 4 K, 74-49 (TP-S)
The Tigers managed to threaten Mississippi State starter Pico Kohn several times, but he escaped each jam. His outing ended after Missouri put runners on the corners for the third time, following a Jackson Lovich walk and a Pierre Seals single. But once again, the Bulldogs’ bullpen worked out of trouble, keeping the Tigers scoreless through five innings.
Mississippi State put itself in run-rule territory with a three-run homer and continued the surge later in the inning, adding another run off new Tigers pitcher Ben Smith to take a commanding 12-0 lead.
Missouri finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth. After a leadoff walk to Isaiah Frost, back-to-back singles by Mateo Serna and Keegan Knutson brought home the Tigers’ first run. Later in the inning, Jackson Lovich launched his 12th home run of the season — and fourth in less than two weeks — a three-run shot that cut the deficit to 12-4.
Thanks to Lovich’s home run, the game avoided an early end and went the full nine innings — but it ultimately made little difference.
A three-run blast from Mateo Serna in the seventh pulled the Tigers within five, but that was all they could muster. The Bulldogs responded with three more runs in the eighth to pull away again.
The ninth inning spiraled out of control for the Tigers, as the Bulldogs continued to pile on runs — scoring 10 in the frame — and sealing a 25-7 blowout. Missouri finally escaped the inning after turning to Cayden Nicoletto on the mound for his first pitching appearance.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs racked up 23 hits off Tigers pitching — including eight home runs — highlighting Missouri’s ongoing struggles at home, a theme throughout the season.
The game goes into the record books with 10 combined home runs — the second most in a game in SEC history and the most ever in a matchup between two SEC teams, surpassing the mark set by South Carolina and Georgia in the 2006 NCAA Super Regional.
Late-inning rallies are becoming a trend for this Tigers team. After scoring six runs in the ninth to open the series against Texas A&M and putting together a pair of three-run innings late in the finale, Missouri added seven runs over the final four innings Friday — all after being shut out through the first five.
Kehlenbrink (0-5) took the loss, while Kohn (6-3) earned the win for Mississippi State.
The Tigers return to action Saturday for Game 2 of the series against the Bulldogs. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Taylor Stadium.