Tigers' rally comes up short against Oklahoma State
The Missouri baseball team was unable to overcome an early eight-run deficit, falling to Oklahoma State 10-7 Saturday.
After MU freshman starting pitcher Eric Anderson and junior reliever Jeff Scardino were hit for 10 runs through a combined 4 2-3 innings of work, junior left handed reliever Zack Hardoin shut out Cowboys for the remainder of the game, allowing no runs on four hits.
“[Hardoin] did great, five zeroes,” coach Tim Jamieson said. “That gave us a chance to get back in the game. We had chances. That ball that [freshman right fielder] Dane [Opel] hit in the ninth got a catcher making that play over at third base. [He] made a great play. That ball gets by him, who knows what happens next?”
Using the same lineup in consecutive games for the first time this season, Missouri offense was relatively ineffective up until the seventh. Back to back hits from freshman second baseman Eric Garcia and senior shortstop Mike Liberto forced Oklahoma State to pull senior starting pitcher Tyler Lyons, who finished the day with 11 strikeouts. The Tigers were able to reach the bullpen for four runs that inning, cutting the Oklahoma State lead to four.
Trailing 10-6 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Tigers began to rally. With runners at first and second, sophomore outfielder Russell LaFleur hit an RBI single to cut the lead to three.
Missouri’s rally was stopped there with the tying run at the plate, however, as freshman pinch hitter Blake Brown struck out swinging to end the game.
“10-2 is pretty hard to comeback with,” said junior catcher Brett Nicholas, who scored twice and drove in a run for the Tigers. “We did a great job, showed the heart of our team and did a great job of coming back. We gave ourselves a chance to tie it there in the last inning. Unfortunately, we didn’t pull it out, but we learn a lot from today and being able to comeback like that we can take it to the next game and build on that.”
The third and final game of the series is slated for Sunday afternoon at Taylor Stadium.