@MizzouBaseball Falls to No. 4 Vanderbilt, 8-6, in Series Opener

Friday, March 25

Columbia, Mo.

6 p.m.

University of Missouri

14-10, 0-4

Vanderbilt

18-4, 2-2

Vanderbilt

Mizzou

@MizzouBaseball Falls to No. 4 Vanderbilt, 8-6, in Series Opener

3/25/2016 10:08:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball dropped the first game of a three-game series against No. 4 Vanderbilt, 8-6, on Friday night (March 25) at Taylor Stadium. Mizzou led 6-4 with two outs and no one on in the ninth inning, but three consecutive two-out hits tied the game and Bryan Reynolds capped off the rally with a two-run homer to center to give Vanderbilt the win. Mizzou falls to 14-10 and 0-4 in SEC play while Vanderbilt goes to 18-4 and 2-2 in SEC pla

Despite pitching well, redshirt freshman righty Liam Carter (Highland Park, Ill.) was tagged with his first career loss while Evan Steele earned the win, his first of the year, for Vanderbilt. Ben Bowden got the save. The loss squandered another great start from RHP Reggie McClain (Duluth, Ga.), who scattered eight hits over 6.1 innings while allowing four runs (all earned) with nine strikeouts and just one walk. His nine strikeouts are just two off of his career-high. McClain had a streak of 20.2 innings without a walk snapped on Friday night but still owns a 43-2 strikeout-walk ratio. He struck out six of the first eight batters he faced.

Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.) and Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) each drove in two runs on Friday and each of their hits were go-ahead hits. Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) also tallied an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the third inning.

McClain was dealing early as he needed just 24 pitches to get through two innings, striking out four Commodore batters in that span, including getting the side swinging in the top of the first. Mizzou threatened in the second inning, putting two men on with one out, but a strikeout by Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) and a fielder's choice off the bat of Shane Benes (Town & Country, Mo.) ended the frame.

But Mizzou got to Vanderbilt starter Jordan Sheffield in the third. He loaded the bases on two straight walks and a hit batter, bringing up Ring who blasted a single through the left side to score a pair. Harris then launched a sacrifice fly to put Mizzou in top, 3-0.

Vanderbilt got a run back in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI single through the right side by Reynolds. Vandy then tied the game on a two-out, bases loaded single by the middle by Jeren Kendall in the fifth inning, making it 3-3 after five.

But Mizzou answered in the bottom of the frame as Lavy ripped a two-out, two-run triple to the right field corner to score a pair and put Mizzou back on top, 5-3. Lavy then scored on a wild pitch by Sheffield to extend the lead to 6-3. Vanderbilt added a run on a sacrifice fly in the sixth and threatened in the seventh after back-to-back singles by the eight- and nine-hole hitters. After a failed bunt attempt by Ro Coleman, Tim Jamieson went to the bullpen and he went to Carter who pitched Mizzou out of the jam to strand the tying runs on base.

Carter pitched an easy 1-2-3 eighth inning, picking up a pair of strikeouts and he was cruising along in the ninth inning until a two-out single by SS Tyler Campbell, the nine-hole hitter, set up Vanderbilt's comeback. Coleman then singled through the left side and the two advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch. Kendall then then singled into right center on a 1-2 pitch to tie the game. Reynolds then homered on the next pitch off of reliever Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) and Ben Bowden shut the door on the Tigers in the ninth.

Game two of the series will be Saturday at 5 p.m. on SEC Network with Steve Lenox and Gabe Gross on the call. For all the latest on the promotion and all things Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MizzouBaseball and like the team on Facebook and Instagram (Mizzou Baseball).

Hear From Mizzou
Head Coach Tim Jamieson

On what he told his team following the heartbreaking loss…
"Just keep fighting. I thought Liam pitched really well. Reggie competed really well the first three or four innings. I thought our guys played well. That's just the way the game goes sometimes."

On being disappointed in another loss to Vanderbilt…
"I didn't feel like that. I just feel like, with two outs with a two run lead, you feel like you have a really good chance to win the game. Give credit to them. The first guy that got on hit the ball hard, the next two guys didn't hit the ball very hard. I thought Liam made pretty good pitches."

Senior 1B Zach Lavy

On the loss…
"Losing like that sucks. Give credit to them. They came back and did what they were supposed to do. We just couldn't close it out."

On the how the team gets ready to play tomorrow…
"Just come back and like Coach J said, be ready to play. Put this one behind us – remember it – but put it behind us in the sense that we just come out with confidence. We need to realize that we are just as good as they are and hopefully come out on top this time."

Postgame Notes

Mizzou now trails the all-time series, 0-11.
Mizzou falls to 4-2 on Fridays this season.
RHP Reggie McClain had a streak of 20.2 innings without a walk snapped with two outs in the fifth inning. He has walked just two batters in 47.0 innings.
McClain struck out nine batters Friday, just two off of his career high.
Junior Jake Ring hit a two-run single in the third inning, moving his hitting streak to four games and he has now reached base safely in 12 straight games, the second-longest streak by a Tiger this season and the longest active streak.
Ring now has four games this season with multiple RBIs.
Freshman RF Connor Brumfield walked in the third inning and has now reached base safely in 10 consecutive games, the second-longest active streak on the team. five-game hit streak
Freshman Brian Sharp singled in the fourth inning and has now reached base safely in eight straight contests.
1B Zach Lavy hit his team-leading third triple and 14^th extra-base hit in Mizzou's three-run fifth inning.
Lavy's two RBIs gave him his fourth multi-RBI game this season.