@MizzouBaseball Drops Opener to No. 9 LSU, 7-5

Friday, April 15

Columbia, Mo.

6 p.m.

University of Missouri

20-16, 4-9

LSU

23-11, 7-6

LSU

Mizzou

4/15/2016 9:37:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball dropped its series opener to No. 9 LSU, 7-5, on Friday night at Taylor Stadium. The loss drops Mizzou to 20-16 and 4-9 in SEC play while LSU improves to 23-11 and 7-6 in SEC play. Senior RHP Reggie McClain (Duluth, Ga.) was tagged with the loss, his second of the season, while LSU's Jared Poche' earned the win, his fifth. Hunter Newman earned the save.

LSU scored five two-out runs the fifth inning, all off of McClain, who allowed 10 hits and seven runs (all earned), to open a 6-2 lead and held on despite a late Mizzou rally thanks to an insurance run in the eighth inning.

McClain had an easy 1-2-3 first inning, working around a single and retiring the side on just six pitches. Mizzou then jumped all over LSU starter Jared Poche' in the first inning. Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) singled with one out to get is it started and Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) walked. Lavy then delivered his seventh triple of the season to score both runners. He leads the SEC in triples and his seven tie him for sixth in Mizzou history for triples in a season. It is the most triples hit by a Mizzou player since 1994.

After Mizzou staked McClain to an early lead, LSU got to McClain a bit in the second, scoring a run on a soft bouncer to short after a pair of hits put runners on the corners with one out. He minimized the damage with a strikeout to strand a pair and escape with Mizzou leading, 2-1.

McClain was cruising and got to two outs in the fifth before LSU's offense got going. After a leadoff single and back-to-back ground outs, McClain allowed an RBI double to Greg Deichmann to tie the game at 2-2. McClain the surrendered back-to-back singles in front of a three-run Bryce Jordan homer to give LSU a 6-2 lead after five.

Mizzou got two runs back in the sixth inning as Lavy got things started with a leadoff double to left center, his team-leading 13^th of the season. He then scored on a Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) single and then with two outs, DH Marquise Doherty (Kansas City, Mo.) hit his first career double to score Bond, making it 6-4 after six.

RF Kirby McGuire (Round Rock, Texas) then pulled Mizzou within one with his second homer of the season in the seventh inning, a solo shot over the fence in left, ending Poche's day. LSU got that run on an RBI groundout in the eighth inning to extend the lead to 7-5.

Mizzou will be back in action tomorrow at 2 p.m. in game two against No. 9 LSU. The gam will air live on SEC Network+. For all the latest on all things Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MizzouBaseball and like the team on Facebook and Instagram (Mizzou Baseball).

Hear From Mizzou
Head Coach Tim Jamieson

Opening Statement…
"Yeah, the five-run inning. Ground ball that gets by Reggie ended up being a killer in that inning. We have got to find a way to get that inning a little bit smaller than five. I was pleased with the way we competed. The way we competed before the five and after the five and felt like the ninth inning we had a chance to win."

On Marquise Doherty…
"He got on base three times, had three really good at-bats. We thought we was a good matchup with the starting pitcher and he came through. He's been getting better, making strides. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come."

On the offense vs. Poche'…
"We hit some balls hard – the ball that Ring hit to the wall. We did some things well offensively. Just came up a little bit short defensively. All you can is go out there and give great effort and compete and we did that for nine innings."

Postgame Notes

Friday marked the first SEC start for freshman Marquise Doherty
Senior OF Jake Ring extended his reached base streak to 11 games with a first-inning single.
Senior 1B Zach Lavy drove in two with a triple in the bottom of the first inning. It was his seventh three-bagger of the season, tied for the sixth most in a single season in Mizzou history and most since 1994.
Lavy collected his team leading ninth multi-RBI game of the season tonight. He now has 33 RBI this season, the most on the team.
Lavy's triple also extended his hit streak to eight games, tied for the longest for the team this season.
Doherty drew the first walk of his college career in the second inning.
Ring collected his 12 multi-hit game of the season, second most on the team.
Doherty got his first career SEC hit, and second overall in the fourth inning.
Lavy's sixth inning double was his SEC leading 23^rd extra base hit of the season.
Lavy now has 14 multi-hit games this year, a team lead.
The sixth inning double by Lavy was his team leading 13^th of the season and 22dnd of his career.
7^th multi-hit game for Sophomore C Brett Bond, his first since April 2 at Arkansas.
Bond drove in his 22^nd RBI of the year in the sixth.
Doherty collected the first double and RBI of his career in the sixth inning.
Doherty earned his first multi-hit game of his career tonight, with a walk, single, and double in four plate appearances.
Junior Kirby McGuire blasted his second homerun of the season in the seventh inning. It was the 10^th RBI of his career.
The homerun extends McGuire's reached base streak to 12 games, the longest active streak on the team.
RS Sophomore Cole Bartlett made his team leading 20^th appearance of the season. He pitched 2.0 innings giving up three hits and inducing two double plays.