COLUMBIA, Mo. – Vanderbilt 1B Julian Infante hit a three-run triple in the bottom of the fifth inning to guide the Commodores past Mizzou Baseball, 5-2, Friday night at Hawkins Field. Mizzou got a solo homer from junior INF Robbie Glendinning (Scarborough, Australia), but Mizzou as it struggled to solve Vandy starter Patrick Raby, who earned his eighth win of the season. Mizzou starter Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.) was tagged with the loss. Mizzou falls to 28-19 on the year and 8-14 in SEC play.
Mizzou had opportunities throughout the game, especially against the Vandy bullpen, but the Tigers stranded 11 runners, including six over the finale three innings as they attempted the mount a comeback. The 11 men stranded were the most for Mizzou since April 2 as the Tigers failed to get a key hit all night.
Mizzou nearly got on the board in the top of the first inning, getting a two-out single from Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.), followed by Brett Bond's (St. Louis, Mo.) team-leading 12th double. Mizzou waved Harris around third trying to score, but he was thrown out at the plate for the third out. He was injured on the play and was later lifted after trying to make it a go.
Glendinning got Mizzou on the board in the top of the second inning, launching his sixth homer of the season, a solo shot over the 400-foot sign in center field. He now has two homers in his last three games.
Vanderbilt got on the board in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of some shaky bunt defense by Mizzou. After a leadoff single, Vandy attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt and Bond tried to field it despite the ball appearing to be rolling foul. He bobbled it for an error, putting two men on. The Commodores then laid down another sacrifice bunt to move the runners 90 feet. Jeren Kendall then tied the game with an RBI groundout, making it 1-1 after three.
Vanderbilt threatened in the bottom of the fourth inning, loading the bases with one out. But Bartlett got a big 6-4-3 double play to escape the jam, preserving the 1-1 tie.
Bartlett then again got into trouble in the fifth inning, hitting a batter and walking another to put two on for Kendall. He reached on a bunt single to load the bases. Infante then hit his triple to clear the bases and give Vanderbilt a 4-1 lead. He then scored on a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 5-1.
Mizzou threatened in the top of the seventh, getting a two-out rally. Senior Kirby McGuire (Round Rock, Texas) singled in a run and Johnny Balsamo (Kansas City, Mo.) walked to load the bases for Bond. With a chance to make the game interesting, Bond struck out swinging to strand the bases loaded.
Sophomore LHP Michael Plassmeyer (St. Louis, Mo.) was great in relief of Bartlett, turning in a pair of 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh. Mizzou again threatened in the eighth, but stranded a pair as pinch hitter A.J. Lewis (Chicago, Ill.) struck out. Mizzou got another runner on in the ninth, but couldn't scratch across another run.
Game two of the series will be Saturday at 2 p.m. in Nashville. For all the latest on all things Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team @MizzouBaseball and like the team on Facebook and Instagram (Missouri Baseball).
Potent Quotables
Head Coach Steve Bieser
Opening statement…
"I'm proud of the way that we competed. I think offensively we did a great job tonight as far as just being able to come up with hits after getting ourselves competitive at-bats. We just couldn't come up with a big hit when we needed it. We had the tying run on a couple different times. We forced them to do everything possible to bring in their closer late in the game. Proud of the way the offense competed, we just had the one big inning that got away from us. We started that inning with a hit-by-pitch and a walk and a perfectly-executed bunt that we couldn't get an out on. We pushed them and we set ourselves up to have a good series after getting into their bullpen a little bit. Coming out and swinging the bats, we hand it over to Tanner to try and even the series and we'll continue to go at them."
Postgame Notes
- Mizzou now trails the all-time series with Vanderbilt, 0-15, and 0-7 in Nashville.
- Mizzou falls to 3-7 this year against SEC East teams.
- Mizzou is now 6-7 on Fridays this season.
- Junior C Brett Bond hit his team-leading 12th double of the season in the first inning. Bond had just seven career doubles in 105 career games before hitting 12 this season.
- Junior 2B Robbie Glendinning hit his sixth homer of the year in the second inning. He now has two homers in his last three games after homering in the finale vs. Texas A&M.
- Freshman SS Chris Cornelius tallied his eighth multi-hit game of the season.
- Mizzou now has back-to-back 10-hit games for the first time since April 11-12 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
- Mizzou tallied its first 10-hit performance since pounding 12 hits against Ole Miss on April 23.
- Mizzou's 11 men left on base are its most since stranding 11 against Florida on April 2, a span of 18 games.