University of Missouri
Texas
Tigers Fall to Longhorns, 6-1
5/28/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 28, 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The Mizzou baseball team fell, 6-1, on Saturday morning (May 28) to top-seeded Texas in game 11 of the Big 12 Tournament at Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. The loss sets up a decisive elimination game with the Longhorns which will be played at 4 p.m. today. The winner of that game will advance to the Big 12 Championship game, which will be played at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Mizzou tallied just five hits in the game and only three came over the final eight innings.
Tiger starter Matt Stites took the loss despite throwing a pretty solid game. He went 6.2 innings and gave up four runs (only three earned) while striking out five and allowing eight Longhorn hits. Offensively, Mizzou was led by Jonah Schmidt who tallied the Tigers' lone extra-base hit on the day and scored a run. Conner Mach also extended his career-long hit streak to 12 games with a single in the eighth inning. Freshman third baseman CJ Jarvis tallied the Tigers' lone RBI on the day with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. Texas' Kendall Carillo earned the win after throwing 4.2 innings and allowing just one Tiger hit while striking out seven.
Mizzou threatened in the bottom of the first, tallying a pair of hits and walk to load the bases with two outs for catcher Ben Turner. He hit a blooper into center, but Longhorn center fielder Cohl Walla made the play, retiring the side.
Texas got on the board in the third inning on an RBI double by shortstop Brandon Loy, who laced the ball down the left field line. That scored a run all the way from first base and Loy moved to third on the throw home. But Stites came back to struck out the final two batters of the inning to leave the runner stranded 90 feet from home. Texas added another run in the fourth on an RBI single by Jonathan Walsh to go on top, 2-1.
Mizzou got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning as Schmidt led off the inning with a double to left field. After a Turner single and a walk by Jesse Santo, Jarvis hit a sacrifice fly to score Schmidt from third, cutting the lead in half at 2-1. But Texas got that run back in the top of the fifth inning as Stites put two on with two outs. The runners advanced to second and third on a double steal and Santo then booted a ball at short, allowing an unearned run to come in, putting UT up, 3-1.
Stites ended up pushing through 6.2 innings of work, but what should have been the third out of the seventh was dropped by Blake Brown in right field, plating another Texas run, putting the Longhorns on top, 4-1. That ended Stites' day as he went 6.2 allowing four runs (three earned) while striking out five and giving up eight hits and a walk.
Texas added two more runs in the eighth off of Jeff Emens and the Tigers went quietly in the eighth and the ninth as Texas escaped with the win. The two teams will meet in an elimination game today at 4 p.m. with the winner advancing to the Big 12 Championship game tomorrow. Fans can listen to the game live on KTGR 1580 AM/100.5 FM. For all the latest on Mizzou baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MUTigerBaseball.
