@MizzouBaseball Drops Opener at Arkansas, 7-6

Friday, April 1

Fayetteville, Ark.

6:35 p.m.

University of Missouri

15-13, 0-7

Arkansas

19-7, 4-3

Mizzou

Arkansas

4/1/2016 10:06:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A four-run, five-hit sixth inning helped No. 15 Arkansas rally to defeat Mizzou Baseball, 7-6, on Friday night (April 1) at Baum Stadium. The loss drops Mizzou to 15-13 on the year and 0-7 in SEC play while Arkansas goes to 19-7 and 4-3 in SEC play. Senior RHP Reggie McClain (Duluth, Ga.) took the loss after going 5.1 innings, allowing nine hits and six runs (all earned) with five strikeouts and one walk.

Mizzou opened a 3-0 lead in the second inning and had the bases loaded with no outs in the frame and failed to add more runs. Arkansas then rallied late with four runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh to stretch the lead to 7-3. Mizzou scored three in the ninth on a pair of homers, but Mizzou stranded the tying run on second in the ninth. Doug Willey earned the win for Arkansas, his first of the season, and Zach Jackson picked up his fourth save.

Mizzou got on the board in the top of the first inning after a leadoff double by Kirby McGuire (Round Rock, Texas) got things going in his first start in the leadoff spot. He ripped the first pitch of the game down the left field line for his first double of the season. After a sacrifice and a walk, Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.) nearly gave Mizzou a 3-0 lead on a ball caught against the wall in left for an out, but the sacrifice fly plated McGuire to give Mizzou a 1-0 lead.

After an 11-pitch inning for McClain, Mizzou tacked on more runs in the second inning and knocked Arkansas starter Dominic Taccolini out of the game. Sophomore OF Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) led off the frame with a double and a pair of errors led to a run on an RBI groundout by Shane Benes (Town & Country, Mo.). Nine-hole hitter Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) then roped a bases loaded, RBI single through the right side to score another, giving Mizzou a 3-0 lead, ending Taccolini's night. Josh Alberius came on and got the next three outs to strand the bases loaded. He settled things down for Arkansas, holding Mizzou off the board for 4.0 innings.

Arkansas took advantage of a leadoff walk in the third inning as Clark Eagan doubled down the line with one out to put the Razorbacks on the board. But McClain got a strikeout and a flyout to get out of the inning just allowing the one run and stranding another in scoring position.

The Razorbacks got another run back in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly, but it could have been worse as Harris robbed a homer from Tucker Pennell, keeping two runs off the scoreboard at the time. After five, Mizzou led 3-2.

Arkansas then tagged McClain for four hits in the sixth inning to scratch across two more runs and take a 4-3 lead. That ended McClain's day in favor of RHP Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.), who inherited runners on second and third. He allowed an RBI groundout and a two-out RBI single to stretch the lead to 6-3 after six.

Arkansas scratched across another run in the seventh to extend the lead to 7-3. Mizzou then nearly rallied in the ninth inning after a homers by Benes and Bond, the latter being a two-run shot, both of which were the third of the season for the two hitters. McGuire then worked a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch, but Howard flew out to right to strand the tying run on second base.

Mizzou and Arkansas will play game two of the series Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Baum Stadium on SEC Network. For all the latest on 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

Opening statement…
"We started the game well and we ended the game well. In between it wasn't very good. We should have put up a huge number in the second inning and it's a completely different game. But on top of that, we made too many little mistakes and created baserunners in scoring positon for Arkansas. We had a runner picked off of second base with nobody out. It ends up being a one-run game, maybe one of those mistakes – we make the plays we are supposed to – it's a different outcome."

On the pitching staff…
"Reggie wasn't very sharp. He missed a lot of spots and if he had his good stuff, I think he would have cruised later into the game. He made a lot of mistakes. They had the leadoff man on seven innings in a row. It's hard to win a baseball game like that."

Postgame Notes

Despite the loss, Mizzou still leads the all-time series, 28-24-1.
Mizzou falls to 4-3 on Fridays this season
Mizzou falls to 2-4 in one-run games this season.
The loss is Mizzou's first when homering twice in a game this season.
Junior OF Kirby McGuire started in the leadoff start for the first time this season. He is only the third leadoff hitter used by Tim Jamieson this season. He hit a leadoff double to begin the game, his first of the year.
In fact, Mizzou doubled to lead off both the first, second and fifth innings on Friday night.
C Brett Bond hit an RBI single in the second inning, his first hit since March 20 at Florida when he had two doubles. It snapped an 0-for-12 for Bond
Junior SS Ryan Howard hit in the three-hole for the first time in 2016. He reached base in three of his four plate appearances with two walks and a single.
OF Trey Harris tallied his first career two-double performance on Friday and tallied his fifth multi-hit game of the season. It was his first multi-hit game since March 15 against SEMO.
Zach Lavy had a five-game hitting streak snapped.
DH Brian Sharp singled in the second inning and he has now reached base safely in 12 straight games while hitting safely in three.
Shane Benes hit a solo homer in the ninth inning, his third of the year and first since the opening weekend of play.
Bond hit his third homer of the season as well, also coming in the ninth inning.