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COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou junior RF Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) hit three home runs and junior C Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) added two of his own as Mizzou Baseball won the middle game of its series with No. 10 Kentucky, 9-8, Saturday night at Taylor Stadium. Mizzou moves to 26-10 and 7-7 in SEC play while Kentucky falls to 24-12 and 9-6 in SEC play. The rubber game of the three-game series is Sunday at noon.
Harris' three home runs are the most by a Mizzou player since April 11, 2008, when Jacob Priday hit a school-record four in a 31-12 win over Texas. Harris narrowly missed his fourth homer of the game in the seventh inning, hitting a liner foul by less than a foot. He homered in four consecutive at-bats dating back to his final at-bat Friday night and tied the SEC record for homers in a game by a single player in an SEC game. Bond tallied the first multi-homer game of his career as well.
UK's Tristan Pompey homered on the first pitch of the game to stake Kentucky to a 1-0 lead early. Mizzou answered in the bottom of the first inning as Harris launched his team-leading ninth homer of the year, a two-run shot, to put Mizzou ahead, 2-1, after the opening frame. That was just the beginning of Harris' career night.
Mizzou tallied three hits in the second inning but a base running blunder cost the Tigers as they failed to score. Kentucky then hit a pair of solo shots in the third inning, one by CF Marcus Carson and the other by Pompey, his second in as many at-bats.
Harris tied the game with his second homer in the third inning, marking the third straight at-bat that he hit a home run. Mizzou took the lead in the bottom of the fourth on a two-out double by Chris Cornelius (St. Louis, Mo.) to score Alex Samples (Bridgeport, Texas) who doubled to open the frame.
Harris and Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) then hit back-to-back jacks in the fifth inning. For Harris, it was his third homer of the game and marked the fourth consecutive at-bat that he hit a homer dating back to Friday night. It was the second time this season that Mizzou hit back-to-back homers as well.
Mizzou tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI groundout by Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) to extend the lead to 7-3. Kentucky got back into the game, tacking on three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Harris then led off the bottom of the seventh and appeared to hit his fourth homer of the game on a frozen rope to left field, but it was just foul. He struck out looking later in the at-bat.
Despite Harris striking out, Bond picked him up with a homer in the next at-bat, his second of the game, to extend Mizzou's lead to 8-6. Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) added an RBI single in the seventh as well as Mizzou got two of the three runs back.
Harris came up one more time in the eighth with two men on, but hit into a 6-4-3 double play as he had to settle for three homers, which ties the most ever hit in an SEC game. Kentucky got two runs in the ninth to cut into the lead, but T.J. Sikkema (DeWitt, Iowa) got the final out to preserve his sixth win of the season. He pitched the final 6.1 innings.
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Potent Quotables
Head Coach Steve Bieser
Opening statement…
"We've had plenty of that in the OVC, that's pretty much what OVC ball looks like. You keep slugging and keep slugging and see who comes out in the end. I like the fact that we had the last at-bat today because I thought it might come down to whoever was hitting last had a chance to win this game."
On whether he thought Trey Harris' foul ball was a fair home run…
"I couldn't tell from my angle. Obviously it wasn't because our third base coach didn't react and the umpire was right there on top of it. He's swinging the bat well; what a tremendous night that Trey had."
Junior RF Trey Harris
On his three-homer performance…
"Really fun, so much fun. That last home run I as smiling ear to ear because I am like what just happened, was that me? You just surprise yourself sometimes and tonight was that night. In my entire life I have maybe hit 15 home runs. To have 11 in one year, I'm like alright when is it going to end and then it just keeps coming and I just keep smiling and I'm like let's go."
Postgame Notes
- The all-time series between Mizzou and Kentucky is now tied at seven wins apiece.
- Mizzou moves to 7-7 in SEC play.
- Mizzou is now 1-5 against top-10 teams this season.
- Mizzou is now 3-6 against top-25 teams.
- Mizzou is now 3-6 against SEC East teams this season
- Mizzou is now 10-6 in night games this season.
- Mizzou is now 13-7 in three-game series this season.
- Mizzou is now 9-1 on Saturdays this season.
- Mizzou tallied its 19th 10-hit game of the season Saturday.
- Mizzou has now matched its win total from a season ago.
- Sophomore CF Connor Brumfield walked to open Mizzou's half of the first inning and he has now reached base safely in 21 consecutive games, the longest streak by a Tiger this season.
- Trey Harris hit three homers, trying the second-most ever hit in a single game by a Mizzou player. His three homers are the most by a Mizzou player since April 11, 2008, when Jacob Priday hit a school-record four against Texas in a 31-12 win.
- Harris now has eight homers in his last eight games dating back to the Illinois game on April 4.
- Harris is now tied for second in the SEC with 11 homers on the year. That is the most by a Mizzou player since 2012 when Dane Opel hit 11.
- Harris and Brett Bond went back-to-back in the fifth inning, the first time Mizzou has went back-to-back since March 25 against Arkansas and the second time this season.
- Kameron Misner stole his 15th base of the season on Saturday, tied for the most in the SEC.
- T.J. Sikkema pitched a career-high 6.1 innings to earn his sixth win of the season.
