Mizzou played host to fifth ranked Tennessee on Friday night for the opener of a three-game series. After getting swept last weekend at Alabama, the Tigers entered Friday as losers of six straight. With only five total wins in conference and just one series win, the Tigers had to deal with one of the nation’s premier teams in the Volunteers. Mizzou played great baseball for much of Friday night, but still came up short in a 5-4 loss.
Seth Halvorsen made his 12th start of the season, looking to replicate his last home start when he earned a win against Georgia. Halvorsen wasn’t nearly as sharp, but still effective early, throwing three scoreless innings despite a multitude of baserunners.
Offensively, Andrew Keefer got things going for the Tigers on a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the second inning. In the third, Brandt Belk came through with a huge two-out single to score Joshua Day and Luke Mann to put Mizzou up 3-0.
Tennessee finally took advantage of Halvorsen in the top of the fourth when a Jordan Beck single scored a run. Later in the frame, Halvorsen walked Liam Spence with the bases loaded to cut the lead to 3-2. Despite all of the traffic, Halvorsen got through five innings with that lead still intact. After walking the leadoff man in the sixth, Halvorsen’s day was over. He went five innings allowing five hits, three runs, six walks, three strikeouts while hitting two batters on 109 pitches. It marked the fifth time this season that Halvorsen threw more than 100 pitches.
Lukas Veinbergs relieved Halvorsen, but was unable to keep the tying run from scoring. Max Ferguson blooped a double in no-man's-land in left field to tie the game, scoring Jordan Beck. Mizzou’s offense came right back in the bottom half of the sixth with an Andrew Keefer RBI-single that scored Brandt Belk. Veinbergs was in position to claim the win after two scoreless frames, allowing a pair of hits and a pair of walks while striking out four batters.
The Tigers had to limit mistakes to preserve its lead, but a huge mistake came at a critical time late in the game. With a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth, reliever Jacob Kush left a fastball over the middle of the plate for Max Ferguson on a 3-2 count. Ferguson sent the pitch into deep right field for the go-ahead and eventual game-winning home run, crushing the Tigers’ hope for an upset. It was the seventh pitch of the at-bat as Ferguson battled back after falling down 1-2 in the count. Ferguson finished the night 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and two extra-base hits.
“It’s kind of been the theme of this year,” manager Steve Bieser said. “We throw too many pitches to a batter and they get comfortable, then we make a bad pitch in the middle of the zone and pay for it. We have to do a better job of getting hitters out within the first three pitches and not letting them see our whole arsenal.”
Sean Hunley put away all six batters in the eighth and ninth innings to earn the save for Tennessee, while Dallas (8-1)got the the win.
Tennessee improved to 35-11 on the season and 15-7 in the SEC, whie Mizzou fell to 12-30 and 5-17 in the SEC. The loss positions Texas A&M ahead of Mizzou for the final spot in the SEC Tournament with nine games remaining.
Mizzou looks to rebound in the final two games of the series at 3 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m on Sunday.
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