May 20, 2005
Box Score
WACO, Texas - - Missouri opened its final weekend series of the regular season with a 7-5 loss to Baylor on Friday night in Waco, Texas. With the loss the Tigers fall to 35-19 on the year and 14-11 in the Big 12 Conference.
With the victory, Baylor (36-18, 19-6) clinched at least a tie for the Big 12 regular season title. Missouri remains in fourth place in the conference standings with two games remaining on the schedule.
Baylor scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning to take the early lead. Zach Dillon singled to drive in Kyle Reynolds with the first run. Dillon would score on a balk and Reid Brees scored on the second passed ball of the inning.
After allowing the three runs, sophomore right-hander Max Scherzer retired the next seven batters before allowing back-to-back singles to lead off the fourth. However, the next three BU batters in the fourth grounded out to get the Tigers out of the inning.
The Bears' starter Mark McCormick allowed just two Missouri baserunners through the first 4 2/3 innings, both reaching on walks. The first Tiger hit came with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, as junior J.C. Field singled to right.
McCormick struck out a career-high 12 on the night. He allowed just one unearned run on two hits in six innings and took the win, improving to 7-2 on the season.
Scherzer allowed five runs, four of which were earned, on eight hits in five innings. He took the loss, dropping his record to 8-3. The five runs and four earned runs match the most that Scherzer has allowed this season and the eight hits are the most against him on the year. He struck out three batters on Friday night to take his season total to 120, which is eight away from setting a new school record for strikeouts in a season at Mizzou.
The Tigers finally got on the board in the top of the seventh, as junior James Boone singled to lead off the inning, and after a walk to junior Zane Taylor scored on a single by freshman Jacob Priday.
Trailing 7-1 in the eighth inning, Missouri scored four runs to pull within two of the Bears. A pair of runs scored on a double by junior Derek Chambers. Boone then connected for a two-out, two-run home run over the rightfield wall. The homer was the seventh of the season for Boone, tying him with Priday for the team lead. It also snapped a streak of 11 games without a home run for the Mizzou. Tayor's homer to lead off the game against Texas on April 29 was the last round tripper for the Tigers before Boone's on Friday.
Boone was 2-for-4 on the night with two RBI and two runs scored. It is the third consecutive two-hit game for Boone.
The two teams will return to Baylor Ballpark for the second game of the series on Saturday at 3 p.m. The final game of the season and regular season is set for 2 p.m. on Sunday.