No. 21 Mizzou Falls To In-State Rival SEMO, 8-5

Tuesday, May 5

Columbia, Mo.

6:05 PM

University of Missouri

28-21

Southeast Missouri

31-17

SEMO

Mizzou

5/5/2015 11:22:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The No. 21 Mizzou baseball team (28-21, 14-10) lost to in-state rival SEMO (31-17, 20-7) 8-5 on Tuesday night (May 5) at Taylor Stadium. The Redhawks used 14 hits and three Tiger errors to take the midweek contest. Mizzou still leads the all-time series with a 22-11 record against SEMO and finished the non-conference season 14-11.

The SEMO Redhawks hung seven runs in the first two innings on Tiger starter John Miles (Columbia, Mo.). Miles was lifted for junior Austin Tribby (Springfield, Mo.) in the second inning, who went a career-high 3.1 innings, surrendering only four hits and taming the Redhawks at 7-0. SEMO added another run in the sixth inning to make it 8-0. The Tigers were able to get one run back in the bottom of the inning after Shane Benes (St. Louis, Mo.) hit a homerun over the Taylor Stadium scoreboard.

Jace James (Oklahoma, City, Ok.) was brought into the game in the eighth inning and struck out two Redhawks in two innings. Benes got his second hit on the day in the bottom half of the eighth inning. Brett Peel (St. Charles, Mo.) then ripped a double down the left field line to put Mizzou runners on second and third, good for one of his three hits in the game. A two-run single to left field by Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) allowed Benes and Peel to score bringing the game to 8-3, Redhawks.

In the bottom of the ninth, Josh Lester (Columbus, Ga.) led off the inning with a single up the middle. With the single, Lester extended his hit streak to ten games. Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) singled through the middle of the infield to put two Tigers on base for Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.). Bond smoked a single for his fifth straight game with an RBI, scoring Lester. Mizzou was able to get another run on a fielder's choice off the bat of Benes to make the score 8-5. Chris Akmon (Scottsdale, Az.) advanced Benes to third on an infield single. The Tigers' rally ended at five unanswered runs.

Postgame Notes:

The Tigers finish the year at 14-11 against non-conference opponents
Mizzou now leads the all-time series vs. SEMO 22-11
Mizzou moves to an even 12-12 at Taylor Stadium in 2015
Shane Benes hit his second career homerun in the bottom of the sixth inning. Benes has hit a homerun in two straight games.
Austin Tribby pitched a career long 3.1 innings in Tuesday's matchup. His previous career high was two innings.
Brett Peel recorded three hits on the day, giving him 10 multi-hit games on the year. It's his second three-hit game of the year, with the first coming on the first game of the year against Iona (Feb. 13)
Ryan Howard singled in the bottom of the seventh inning to extend his team-leading on-base streak to 12 games.
Shane Benes ended the day with two hits to give him his third multiple-hit performance of the year.
Jake Ring recorded his 11th and 12th two-out runs batted in on the night, good enough for second on the team. He trails only Ryan Howard, who has 14.
Josh Lester extended his hit-streak to 10-games with a single in the bottom of the ninth. Lester's streak is tied with Brett Peel for the longest of the season.
Brett Bond singled home a run in the bottom of the nine to give him five straight games with an RBI

Coach's Corner
Thoughts on the game...
"The first two innings you can't allow us to get behind 7-0 and expect us to come back in the game. But to their credit, they hung in it there and felt like they had a chance to win the game in the ninth inning."

On the troubles of midweek games...
"It has been the last three starts but before that we didn't score runs. It's no one thing. It has been a combination of things and the last three games, two with Missouri State and tonight we just didn't pitch it very well."

On the rally...
"You just can't give a team seven runs in the first two innings, you just can't do it."

Tracking the Tigers:
The Tigers are bound for Baton Rouge, La. this weekend for a cross-divisional series against the No. 1 LSU Tigers. 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.