Tiger Baseball Falls to Air Force, 4-2

Wednesday, March 18

Columbia, Mo.

2:30 PM

University of Missouri

16-5

Air Force

9-10

Air Force

Mizzou

3/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

COLUMBIA, Mo. - On a rainy, cold day the Tigers could not get their bats going and suffered a 4-2 loss to Air Force on Wednesday afternoon (March 18) at Taylor Stadium. Mizzou used five pitchers and was able to keep the Air Force offense under control, but the Tigers finished just 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position, snapping the Tigers' season-long six-game win streak.

Andrew Schwaab got the start for the Tigers and pitched two shutout innings before handing the ball to Jace James in the third. James allowed a leadoff single that eventually came around to score on a single down the left field line. James was almost out of the jam when Air Force outfielder Tyler Jones sent a ball deep to center that Jake Ring was unable to corral as Jones ended up on third with a triple and a 2-0 Air Force lead. Those two runs ended a 23.1 inning scoreless stretch for Mizzou pitchers.

Mizzou's bats came alive in the fourth inning as Ryan Howard led off and ripped a double to the left-center gap. A Josh Lester single moved Howard over before the Air Force pitcher balked in Howard to put the Tigers on the board, 2-1. Lester finished the day with three hits, going 3-for-3 with a triple and a walk.

Air Force responded quickly when Noah Pierce launched a two run home run over the left field wall in the top of the fifth inning to increase their lead to 4-1. It was the first home run given up by freshman Ryan Lee.

Brandon Baker made his first appearance of the season in the eighth inning. He quickly allowed a single and hit a batter before calming down. Baker was able to induce a few groundball outs before getting the third out via strikeout. The sophomore from Georgia pitched a scoreless ninth inning as well to finish with two shutout innings allowing just two hits and striking out two.

Howard and Lester continued their success at the plate in the eighth inning with Howard hitting a single to the right side for his second hit of the game before Lester drew a walk. A wild pitch moved them both over before Trey Harris was able to drive Howard in on a high foul popup for his seventh RBI of the year on the sacrifice fly.

Trent Monaghan had a quality outing for Air Force, limiting damage when he did falter. Over his seven innings pitched he allowed just one run on six hits and a walk while striking out six. He moves to 3-1 with the victory and Jace James is credited with the loss moving him to 0-1.

The Tigers welcome the Gamecocks of South Carolina this weekend for a three game series that kicks off on Friday night at 6 p.m. at Taylor Stadium. Check out MUTigers.com for all your Mizzou Baseball news and make sure to follow the team on twitter @MizzouBaseball.