No. 14 Mizzou Drops Close Contest to No. 15 Missouri State

Tuesday, April 21

Columbia, Mo.

6:05 PM

University of Missouri

26-15

Missouri State

28-9

Missouri State

Mizzou

No. 14 Mizzou Drops Close Contest to No. 15 Missouri State

4/21/2015 10:28:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

COLUMBIA, Mo. - No. 14 Mizzou baseball (26-15, 12-6) tallied seven runs in the first four frames of a 9-8 loss to No. 15 Missouri State (28-9, 7-2) on Tuesday night (April 21) in front of 1,128 fans, the largest midweek crowd of the season. The contest was the first meeting between the two teams as ranked opponents. The in-state rival series is now notched at 25-25 a piece.

After four innings, the Tigers led the Bears after RBIs from Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.), Jake Ivory (St. Charles, Mo.) and Shane Benes (St. Louis, Mo.). Brett Peel (St. Charles, Mo.) added his third homerun of the season in that inning to make it a 7-3 Mizzou lead. The Bears took the lead in the sixth inning, hanging five runs to gain an 8-7 edge over the Tigers.

Freshman Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) launched his third homerun of the season over the left field wall in the seventh inning to knot the game, 8-8. Andrew Schwaab (St. Charles, Mo.) and Austin Tribby (Springfield, Mo.) worked the seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Tribby gave up one hit but got out of the inning on a 4-6-3 double play, the Tigers third in the game.

Breckin Williams (Oronogo, Mo.) was charged with the loss, as the Bears were able to capitalize on two Tiger errors in the top of the ninth to score the go-ahead run. The go-ahead run scored on an error by Howard at short, scoring from second base.

Postgame Notes:

Jake Ring hit two doubles in the game. He is leading the team with 14 two-baggers.
Ryan Howard drove in his 28th team-leading RBI in the first inning.
Trey Harris got his sixth stolen base of the season in the bottom of the second.
Shane Benes hit his first career double in the bottom of the second.
Josh Lester drove in his 27th RBI on the season.
Benes drove in his first career RBI in the bottom of the third.
Brett Peel hit his first career homerun in the bottom of the fourth.
Ring hit his second triple in the bottom of the fourth.
Ring has five three-hit games, tops on the team.
Attendance at Tuesday's game was 1,128, the largest mid-week crowd of the season.
Harris hit his third homerun of the season, tying the score in the bottom of the seventh.
Austin Tribby made his SEC-leading 24th appearance.
Harris has now hit homeruns in two consecutive games.
The Tigers hit four doubles for the second time this season. The last four-double game came at Tennessee on April 10.

Coach's Corner
On the wild game tonight...
"We just have to play better defense. Simple as that, if we play better defense, we win the game."

On trying to do a little too much defensively in the ninth inning...
"No, I just think that we had a couple of guys there who weren't there mentally at different times tonight. That will get you in trouble."

On the way Mizzou came out of the gates in the first frames...
"We competed well. We were up four runs in the middle of the game and all we had to do was not let them put up a five spot and we have a chance to win the game. But we made some bad pitches in tough situations and the bullpen did well."

Tracking the Tigers:
No. 14 Mizzou takes on No. 13 Vanderbilt with first place in the SEC East on the line. The three game series begins Friday (April 24) at 6:30 p.m. in Nashville. For all the latest on Mizzou baseball, stop by MUTigers.com, catch game broadcasts by Tex Little on KTGR or follow the team on Twitter @MizzouBaseball.