@MizzouBaseball Rallies Past Vols With Two Runs in the Eighth

Friday, April 29

Columbia, Mo.

6 p.m.

University of Missouri

22-21, 5-14

Tennessee

24-19, 6-13

Tennessee

Mizzou

@MizzouBaseball Rallies Past Vols With Two Runs in the Eighth

4/29/2016 6:15:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Photo Gallery

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Senior RHP Reggie McClain (Duluth, Ga.) struck out a career high 12 and junior SS Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) drove in three as Mizzou (22-21, 5-14) defeated Tennessee (24-19, 6-13) 5-4 at Taylor Stadium on Friday afternoon. The win pushes Mizzou back above .500 with as the team heads down the homestretch of their schedule.

McClain put together a fantastic start, pitching 8.0 innings, giving up two earned runs on seven hits while striking out a career-high 12 and walking none. McClain had control of his pitches all night throwing 88 of his career-high 126 pitches for strikes. Twenty-one of McClain's 24 outs came by either strikeout or ground out. McClain earned the 11^th win of his career, fourth of the season, and first in SEC play.

Howard had himself a day at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a double three RBI and scoring the game-winning run off an impressive slide at home. Howard has hit 21 RBI this season, his third straight season of 20+ RBI. Mizzou is now 11-3 this season when Howard gets an RBI.

Senior 1B Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.) continued his All-SEC caliber play by driving in junior OF Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game at four. One batter later sophomore C Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) hit a soft grounder to the shortstop whose throw to the plate was not in time to catch Howard, giving Mizzou the 5-4 lead.

Redshirt sophomore Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.) pitched the ninth inning, giving up just one hit on nine pitches to secure the save, his third of the season.

Mizzou will play game two of its series vs. Tennessee Saturday (April 30) at 3 p.m. For all the latest on 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 didn't play very clean baseball today, but I think Tuesday's game really helped at least from the offensive standpoint. There was a little bit higher level of confidence from the hitting standpoint. Defensively, the irony is, they felt really good about themselves defensively, we just had a bad game. You make four errors, you're not going to win in the SEC very often."

On Ryan Howard being able to relax with Zach Lavy hitting behind him…
"I think that Howard got a pitch to hit when he drove in the runs, I can't remember what inning but it was the hit to put us up, 3-1. But because Lavy was behind him he got a pitch to hit. If we don't have a hitter behind him, Howard probably never sees a pitch to hit."

RHP Reggie McClain

On his performance…
"I was just trying to control what I can control. I can't control the defense making errors, but I can control each pitch I was throwing. That's what I was trying to do."

On if he had so many runs score on balls not hit past the pitching mound…
"Yeah, there has been certain times this season and definitely in my life that the ball is not hit hard but they are finding a way to get runs across. It's baseball, it's a weird game. You just have to control what you can control."

Postgame Notes

Reggie McClain recorded his first four outs via strikeout.
Ryan Howard hit his ninth double of the season to drive in Jake Ring. The RBI was his 19th of the season.
Ring has scored at least one run in eight of his last 12 SEC games, he scored once tonight.
Howard finished with four hits for his 13th multi-hit game of the season, third most on the team.
It was Howard's first four hit game of the season and first by any Mizzou player since Feb. 27 of this year.
Howard drove in two more with a single in the fifth inning, giving him 21 RBI this season.
Howard has driven in multiple runners five times this season, he drove in three today.
McClain struck out 12 batters, a new career high.
McClain's 12 strikeouts are the second most by a Mizzou pitcher this season, Houck struck out 14 against Vanderbilt.
Ring collected an infield single in the eighth inning for his second hit of the game. Ring now has 15 multi-hit games this season and a team leading 12 games with two hits.
Zach Lavy hit an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to reach base for a 15th straight game, tying the team high for longest such streak.
Lavy's RBI was his 43rd of the season, the most on the team.
Cole Bartlett collected his third save of the season after pitching the top of the ninth.