Game two of its crucial series against Auburn left Mizzou in a state of ultimate desperation. With a win, Mizzou’s postseason chances would stay alive. A loss would mean that Saturday’s game would be the last of the season. Though they got a great pitching performance from Seth Halvorsen, Mizzou suffered perhaps its most disappointing loss of the year in Friday’s 3-0 defeat.
Halvorsen made his team-high 14th start of the season and he was a huge bright spot. Mizzou needed a starter to go deep after Thursday’s 15-6 loss where its bullpen gave up 11 runs. Halvorsen was effective for much of the night, but Auburn was able to score early. In the top of the first, Torin Montgomery was charged with an error after a hard ground ball took a bad hop, resulting in Auburn’s first run. Tyler Miller scored the unearned run after a double, the first of just four hits given up by Halvorsen.
Auburn starter Richard Fitts entered the game with a 7.29 ERA in seven starts, but had his most impressive game of the year against a struggling Mizzou offense. Fitts was superb, retiring each of Mizzou’s first 14 batters. Joshua Day broke up the perfect game in the bottom of the fifth with a single to right field, representing the only baserunner against Fitts in the game. Fitts retired the last ten batters he faced on the night, and was pulled after the eighth inning.
“Fitts was a projected first round pick early in the year and he’s had his struggles, but he definitely found it tonight,” Mizzou manager Steve Bieser said. “He gave us fits. We only put a few balls in play with any authority against him and he definitely had our hitters off time.”
Fitts finished the game with eight scoreless innings, allowing just one hit, no walks and seven strikeouts on 112 pitches. Fitts (1-3) earned his first win of the year in a career-best effort.
Halvorsen was tremendous as well, but made a critical mistake in the fifth inning. Ryan Bliss, who is second in the SEC with a .366 batting average, got hold of a pitch with two outs for a two-run homer.
“Seth made the one mistake when he had two outs and hung a breaking ball to a very good hitter,” Bieser said. “When you do that, good hitters make you pay, but that was really the only mistake that he had all game.”
Bliss’ 14th home run of the season gave Auburn a 3-0 lead, and that lead was not threatened until the ninth. Mizzou finally got runners in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth inning against reliever Carson Swilling, but still came up empty. With the bases loaded with nobody out, Tre Morris struck out and Brandt Belk grounded into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play. The crushing blow ended Mizzou’s postseason hopes, marking the first time since 2014 that the team has missed the SEC Tournament. The win for Auburn (25-25, 10-19 SEC) along with Texas A&M’s 12-6 loss to LSU, clinched the final spot in the SEC Tournament for the visiting Tigers. Auburn avoided missing the conference tournament for the first time since 2016.
With postseason play out of the picture, there was a lot to reflect on for Mizzou in what has been a historically bad season. The overall win total of 14 is its lowest since 1973, and seven conference wins are its fewest since 2014. Optimism isn’t easy to find after such a tough season, but there are some positives, according to Bieser.
“I don’t think we’re far off,” the coach said. “Not getting the wins we expected to get this season has been frustrating so there should be some fire in our guys. We know we’ve got to shore up our pitching staff since it hasn’t been a successful year on the mound for us. Key injuries pushed some guys into roles they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise but that’s experience for them. We were able to get some key experience in SEC play for guys that are returning.”
Halvorsen, a potential MLB Draft pick, likely pitched his last game in a Tigers uniform on Friday. While he picked up the loss, Halvorsen (4-3) went a career-high eight innings, allowing just four hits, two earned runs, two walks and struck out seven on a career-high 123 pitches. Halvorsen left everything on the table in a game where he gave his team a chance to extend its season.
Perhaps Saturday’s season finale and Senior Day game can end the season on a positive note for Mizzou (14-35, 7-22 SEC), which looks to salvage the series and avoid the sweep. The game starts at 2 p.m. with Senior Day festivities beginning at 1:30.
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