No. 21 @MizzouBaseball’s Comeback Falls Short Thursday, Drops 5-4 Contest to Florida

Thursday, May 16

Columbia, Mo.

6:30 PM

University of Missouri

34-19-1, 0

Florida

31-23, 0

Florida

Mizzou

No. 21 @MizzouBaseball’s Comeback Falls Short Thursday, Drops 5-4 Contest to Florida

5/16/2019 10:34:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Tigers can’t overcome four-run, fifth inning by the Gators

COLUMBIA, Mo. – No. 21 Mizzou Baseball (34-19-1, 13-14-1 SEC) dropped its series opener against Florida Thursday evening at Taylor Stadium, 5-4. The visiting Gators smacked a pair of two-run home runs in the fifth inning, proving to be the difference maker.

Trailing 5-1 heading into the seventh inning, the Tigers finally broke through with three runs on two hits in the bottom half. With the deficit cut to 5-4, Mizzou missed a golden opportunity with the bases loaded and two outs to potentially tie the game or re-gain the lead.

#ShowMe Top Performers vs. Florida

Jacob Cantleberry: 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K
Kameron Misner: 2-for-3, R, SB
Chad McDaniel: 1-for-3, RBI

Hear From Head Coach Steve Bieser

On (Konnor) Ash's starting pitching performance Thursday…

"I was really proud the way Konnor threw the ball tonight. I thought he was outstanding. Going into the fifth inning, his pitch count was good, but he was going into unchartered territory as a starter. It's an experiment we're doing. I was pretty certain he'd go out and finish the fifth and then that would be his day. He made a couple mistakes in that inning and he paid for it. We're learning more and more about where he's at, but I thought tonight he did an outstanding job for us."

On what needs to change offensively Friday…

"Yeah, we just need to be more aggressive. We need to be disciplined in the strike zone. If we get a strike in the zone then we need to let it fly."

On Coach (Fred) Corral's job this season with the pitching staff…

"Coach Corral has done an outstanding job. We're going to find that next guy and he's going to have him ready to go. (Jacob) Cantleberry was outstanding tonight. I really like him out of the bullpen. We used him tonight and he was really good."

#MIZ Takeaways

Misner produced his 17th multi-hit game of the year Thursday, ranking second-best on Mizzou. Additionally, it marked the 50th multi-hit game of his career.
Misner was also active on the basepaths in the series opener, swiping his team-leading 20th base of the year. He becomes the first Tiger with 20-plus stolen bases in a single-season since 2016, as Jake Ring produced 25 three seasons ago.
Cantleberry was lights out in relief Thursday, not allowing a single hit over 4.0 shutout frames. The Greenwood, Indiana, native struck out eight of the 13 total batters he faced.
It marked Cantleberry's fifth appearance this year with eight-plus strikeouts and his first-such outing since March 29 at Texas A&M.

Up Next

Game two of the series between the Tigers and Gators is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT Friday at Taylor Stadium.
Fans can purchase tickets by visiting MUTigers.com/Tickets or by calling the Mizzou Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-CAT-PAWS.

Visit MUTigers.com for the latest information on all things Mizzou Baseball. You can also find the Tigers on social media by liking us on Facebook (Mizzou Baseball) and following us on Twitter (@MizzouBaseball) and Instagram (Missouri_Baseball).