No. 15 @MizzouBaseball Drops Game Two of Twin Bill to Seton Hall

Saturday, February 20

Fort Myers, Fla.

4 p.m. (CST)

University of Missouri

2-1

Seton Hall

1-2

Seton Hall

Mizzou

No. 15 @MizzouBaseball Drops Game Two of Twin Bill to Seton Hall

2/20/2016 6:47:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Mizzou Baseball dropped the final game of a doubleheader and the third game of a series against Seton Hall, 8-4, on Saturday evening at City of Palms Park. Junior SS Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) hit his first homer of the season, a two-run shot, in the third inning and Mizzou mounted a comeback late, but a three-run top of the ninth put the game out of reach. Freshman Michael Plassmeyer (St. Louis, Mo.) was tagged with the loss in his first collegiate start after going 4.0 innings, allowing nine hits and five runs (all earned).

Mizzou's bullpen allowed just four hits over five innings of relief and Mizzou scored two in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead to 5-4. But walks and a throwing error led to a three-run ninth for Seton Hall. Mizzou drops to 2-1 on the season.

After missing opportunities in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, it was Seton Hal that struck first in game two. A balk by Plassmeyer plated the first Seton Hall run and a solo shot with two outs on a 1-2 pitch by Mike Caputo extended the Pirate lead to 2-0.

Mizzou got those runs back with one swing of the bat as Howard launched a two-run homer after a Jack Klages (St. Louis, Mo.) walk and that tied the game at 2-2 in the third.

But as quick as Mizzou tied the game, Seton Hall regained its two-run lead with a pair in the top of the fourth. Plassmeyer went back to the mound in the fourth and loaded the bases with no outs. The first run came on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly with no outs and the second on an infield hit with two outs.

After Mizzou went 1-2-3 in the fourth, Seton Hall tacked on another run in the fifth on a fielder's choice off the bat of three-hole hitter Zack Weigel.

Mizzou's offense continued to sputter until the eighth inning when Jake Ring got things started with a single up the middle. Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) then was hit by a pitch and the two moved up on a wild pitch. That allowed Ring to score on an RBI groundout by Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.). After a Shane Benes (Town & Country, Mo.) strikeout, Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) reached on an error, allowing Bond to score. That made it 5-4 but pinch hitter Alex Del Rio (Munster, Ind.) struck out looking to end the threat.

Griffin Goodrich (Kirkwood, Mo.) pitched the ninth and ran into trouble after a walk and a bunt single put two men on with one out. He nearly got out of the jam but wound up giving up three runs as Seton Hall regained an 8-4 lead.

Mizzou and Seton Hall will play the final game of the series tomorrow at noon (CT). Mizzou has not announced a starter. For all the latest on Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter (@MizzouBaseball) and like the team on Instagram and Facebook (Mizzou Baseball).

Mizzou Musings: Hear from Mizzou

Coach Jamieson:

Opening Statement….
"Yeah, early on we had good at bats then we shut it down and went into a really long funk. That seemed to carry over into the second game."

On a quick turnaround before tomorrow's finale…
"It's early in the year but we have to find a way tomorrow to come out with a lot of energy and compete out butts off."

Postgame Notes

Michael Plassmeyer, Ty Shoaff and sophomore Liam Carter each made their collegiate debuts on Saturday.
Ryan Howard hit his first homer of the season, a two-run shot, in the third inning. It was his first HR since May 10 when he homered in back-to-back games at LSU last season, a span of 10 games. That extended his hit streak to five consecutive games dating back to last season.
Zach Lavy tallied his first RBI of the season on an RBI groundout in the eighth inning.
Griffin Goodrich made his first appearance since 2014 in the ninth inning on Saturday.