HOOVER, Ala. – Mizzou Baseball dropped its second-round SEC Tournament game with No. 2 LSU, 10-3, Wednesday evening at Hoover Met Stadium. Mizzou jumped ahead on a Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) solo homer in the second inning, but LSU took a 4-1 lead with a four-run third inning and never looked back. The loss snaps a seven-game win streak for the Tigers as they fall to 36-22 on the year.
Mizzou will now play an elimination game against South Carolina Thursday at a time to be determined, but it will likely be around 1:30 p.m. Mizzou freshman LHP T.J Sikkema (DeWitt, Iowa) was charged with the loss after tossing 4.1 innings on short rest, just five days after throwing a complete game shutout at Tennessee. He allowed six runs (five earned) on eight hits.
Mizzou drew first blood in the top of the second as Misner hit Mizzou's fourth homer of the tournament, a solo shot that was a no-doubter to right field. It was his seventh homer of the year. His seven homers are the most by a Mizzou true freshman since 2007.
Sikkema allowed a leadoff single in the second, but picked up a pair of strikeouts and a 5-3 putout to escape the jam. LSU then got to Sikkema in the third inning, hanging four runs on four hits with a walk. The fourth run scored on a two-out pop-up that Mizzou couldn't haul in.
LSU added another run in the fifth before a one-hour, 22-minute rain delay suspended play with runners on the corners and one out. LSU tacked on another run after the break on an RBI groundout and took a 6-1 lead into the sixth inning.
Mizzou had a chance to get back into the game in the seventh, getting two men aboard with one out, but a pair of groundouts got LSU out of the jam. Mizzou got a run in the top of the eighth inning on an RBI single by junior C Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) to cut the lead to 6-2. LSU then broke the game open in the bottom of the eighth inning with four runs.
Nelson Mompierre (Miami, Fla.) hit a pinch-hit solo homer in the ninth, his third of the year to cut the lead to 10-3. It was Mizzou's second pinch-hit homer this season.
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Potent Quotables
Head Coach Steve Bieser
Opening Statement …
"Obviously for us it was just a tough one tonight. We got outplayed. One of the things that (is worth mentioning is) the work that the grounds crew is doing, the field is in great shape. Those guys are doing a heck of a job out there. Really want to thank the SEC and the Hoover Met for putting us in a facility in a place to be able to respond and play well."
On the rain delay being disruptive…
"Yeah, I think it can be disruptive. I thought last night it was tougher because we were on a roll and had to stop. Tonight I thought it came at a good time for us. It kind of slowed them down and gave us a little bit of time to regroup. As a true competitor, you can't make excuses because that's part of the game. We just didn't respond very well tonight. That's about as simple as I can put it. We didn't come back out and respond."
Postgame Notes
Mizzou falls to 2-5 all-time in SEC Tournament play.
- Mizzou is now 27-27 in conference tournament play dating back to 1997 when it joined the Big 12.
- Mizzou's win streak was snapped at second games.
- Mizzou falls to 3-1 on Wednesdays this season.
- Mizzou is 0-12 all-time against LSU.
- Kameron Misner's second-inning homer gives him seven on the year, the most by a Mizzou true freshman since Trevor Coleman pounded nine in 2007.
- The dinger was his third in the last eight games.
- Chris Cornelius and Kirby McGuire tallied multiple-hit games Wednesday, the 12th and 11th, respectively, of the season for each.
- Junior C Nelson Mompierre hit Mizzou's second pinch-hit homer of the year and first since the Kentucky series on April 15. It was the first pinch-hit homer at the SEC Tournament since the opening game last year.
