Tigers lose second home series to OU

The Tigers were able to salvage the last game Sunday, finishing 2-1.

By JJ Stankevitz

Published April 6, 2009

In its second Big 12 series of the year April 3-5 at Taylor Stadium, Missouri was unable to take advantage of playing at home as the team dropped two of three games to Oklahoma.

Missouri lost the opener in heartbreaking fashion, wasting a terrific outing by starter Kyle Gibson and a spectacular catch by centerfielder Ryan Lollis in a 2-1 defeat.

Gibson put back-to-back shaky outings behind him by allowing just two runs on six hits with 15 strikeouts in a dominant complete game effort. He was bailed out with one out in the ninth inning by Lollis, who made what might have been the best play of the year when he leapt and robbed a home run off the bat of Oklahoma catcher Aaron Baker.

"That was probably the best play I've ever had made behind me," Gibson said about Lollis' grab.

Missouri's offense was unable to muster anything consistent against OU starter Andrew Doyle and closer Ryan Duke.

"It stinks," Lollis said. "He was out there battling his butt off. All we wanted to do was help him win. He was out there picking us up every time. When he comes out and pitches like that, you expect to win."

A mistake on a rundown and a hard-hit ball past third baseman Kyle Mach led to both of OU's runs crossing the plate in the fifth inning.

"We made a couple defensive mistakes, and that's the difference in a 2-1 game," coach Tim Jamieson said.

Missouri made more mistakes that contributed to Saturday's 7-4 loss. It looked like the tide might have begun to turn for Missouri when Kyle Mach hit a home run to lead off the bottom of the fourth and Trevor Coleman and Greg Folgia picked up RBIs to give Missouri a 3-2 lead.

Whatever confidence was gained by scoring three runs in the inning, was taken away when Missouri stranded Coleman, who advanced to third base with one out to end the inning.

"Confidence usually doesn't turn around in one at-bat," Jamieson said. "It would have helped a lot if we could have put a ball in play with the runner on third to put us up 4-2."

OU responded with four runs in the top of the fifth thanks to some sloppy defense and poor decision-making.

"We didn't play very well," Jamieson said. "We didn't pitch well, we didn't get the key hitting, and made some stupid plays defensively."

After the Saturday loss, Coleman put a positive spin on the situation.

"Setbacks are an opportunity for comebacks," Coleman said.

And Missouri did come back Sunday with a 5-4 win to salvage a game in the series. All of Missouri's runs came in the second inning, with the key hits being an RBI single by Rex Meyr and a two-run bloop single off the bat of Aaron Senne.

"We've been looking for that for just about the entire year," Jamieson said of Meyr's hit. "It was good to see someone come off the bench and help us out."

The five runs were enough for starter Nick Tepesch and four relief pitchers.

"The coaches always emphasize that Sunday is the biggest day of the weekend," Tepesch said. "Even though we lost the first two, (winning today) gives us momentum going into the week."

The win moved Missouri to 5-7 in Big 12 play, which could be very important for the team down the stretch.

"The way the league is right now, we have to stay where we can finish in the top half," Jamieson said. "We're 5-7 and arguably not playing good baseball. That's the positive. The concern is when we are going to turn it around. We had flashes of it today, but not a complete game of it."