Despite holding a strong lead over the Purple Aces, Mizzou baseball dropped its first game of a four-game weekend series against the University of Evansville, losing 7-6 on Friday in Columbia. This marks just the second win of the year for the Aces.
After giving up a homer in the first inning, starting pitcher Ian Lohse settled down nicely, delivering a solid performance for the Tigers (4-5) and keeping them in the game throughout. He finished with an almost identical line from his outing against Alabama State just a week ago, leaving after five innings of work, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits. He also recorded six strikeouts and issued one walk.
“To his credit, this is probably the healthiest he has been all year,” head coach Kerrick Jackson said about taking Lohse out of the game. “He's had all kinds of injuries, so we’re going to try and increase that (his pitch count), but the breaking ball was getting loose, and the fastball command was starting to slip.”
The Tigers responded to the Aces' (2-6) first-inning homer with one of their own in the bottom half. Mateo Serna launched a ball off the Devine Practice Facility in right field to tie the game at 1. That would be the Tigers' only run of the game until they exploded for four in the fourth inning.
Down 3-1 heading into the top of the fourth, a leadoff double from Tyler Macon and a hit-by-pitch on Jedier Hernandez put runners on the corners. After a sac-bunt from Payton Basler scored one, Trey Lawrence singled to tie the game at 3, with both Lawrence and Basler advancing on errors.
Lawrence is someone who has been getting more playing time for the Tigers since the injury to shortstop Gehrig Goldbeck, but that’s not the role he was initially brought in for.
“If Goldbeck hadn’t gotten hurt, we weren’t even looking for Trey to play,” Jackson said after the game. “He is also 92-94 on the mound with a good breaking ball, but we haven’t had the luxury of being able to use him there.”
Another run crossed on a sac-fly to center from Kaden Peer, and the Tigers took their first lead of the game on an RBI-single from Serna, his second of the game, giving them a 5-3 lead heading into the top of the fifth.
It wasn’t until the seventh inning that the Aces were finally able to get something going against the Tigers’ pitching. After a clean sixth inning from new pitcher James Vaughn, who went 1-2-3 in his first inning of work, he was brought out for a second inning. As with most of his previous outings this year, things unraveled.
After retiring the first batter of his second inning of work, Vaughn gave up four straight singles, allowing a run before being pulled with the bases loaded for the next pitcher, Nic Smith. Smith entered and gave up two more runs on an RBI-single and a sac fly before ending the inning with a strikeout. The Aces took the lead again, this time 6-5.
They added another run in the next inning after a stand-up RBI-triple. Coach Jackson then brought in Ben Smith, who replaced Nic Smith and retired the last two batters of the inning.
The Tigers made an effort to come back, getting a run in the bottom of the eighth off a Lawrence RBI-groundout to short, making it a one-run game. However, that was all they were able to score, losing 7-6 to the Aces, who secured only their second win of the season.
Mizzou was no match offensively for the Purple Aces, who out-hit the Tigers 14 to 7, with the Aces leaving 10 on base compared to the Tigers' 8. The Tigers also continued their trend of errors, recording one in every game this season, adding two more in this matchup.
The Purple Aces got a solid start from their pitcher, Kenton Deverman, who went seven innings on 114 pitches. He allowed five runs (four earned), with five strikeouts and one walk.
Freshman Brady Picarelli saw his hit streak come to an end after striking out in his first at-bat of the game. He also lost his on-base streak, as he failed to reach base a single time in this game.
“If you go back, I believe in everyone’s at-bat, everyone got at least one pitch that he left over the middle of the plate,” Jackson said. “We just couldn’t exhibit the patience to wait for that pitch.”
The Tigers have two chances to make up for the loss tomorrow, with a doubleheader against Evansville on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. in Columbia.