@MizzouBaseball Comes Up Short vs. Texas A&M to Close Doubleheader

Friday, April 28

Columbia, Mo.

6:30 PM

University of Missouri

27-17, 8-12

Texas A&M

31-13, 12-8

Texas A&M

Mizzou

@MizzouBaseball Comes Up Short vs. Texas A&M to Close Doubleheader

4/28/2017 9:53:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Three-run eighth, ninth innings sink Tigers as Houck again pitches well in a losing effort

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball dropped game two of a doubleheader with Texas A&M, 7-1, Friday evening at Taylor Stadium. Junior RHP Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) was lights out, pitching through the seventh inning for the 22^nd time in 41 career starts, but he was charged with the loss as Texas A&M scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning to put the game away. Houck falls to 3-7 on the year while Mizzou falls to 27-17 and 8-12 in SEC play. Texas A&M goes to 31-13 and 12-8 in SEC play.

Houck pitched through 6.0 innings for the 35^th time in 41 career starts and he has gone through 7.0 innings for the 22^nd time. He again fell victim to a lack of run support as the Tiger offense tallied just one run on five hits.

Houck ran into a bit of trouble in the first as the leadoff man reached on an error in front of a big-hop ground ball over the head of Ian Nelson (Lake St. Louis, Mo.) for a hit that put two men on with one out. But Houck got a big double play and a groundout to second to strand a runner on third and end the threat. He continued to deal, pitching through the fourth on just 40 pitches, picking up four strikeouts.

Mizzou broke the stalemate in the bottom of the third inning, picking up a run after three straight singles loaded the bases, two of which were bunt singles. Chris Cornelius (St. Louis, Mo.) then scored on a passed ball, but that was all Mizzou got as it missed a chance for a big inning, stranding the bases loaded.

Houck retired 12 in a row before a one-out walk in the top of the fifth inning. Texas A&M LF Blake Kopetsky followed with a one-out double to put runners on second and third with one out. The Aggies tied the game on a sacrifice fly, but that was all they got in the frame as Houck pitched out of it.

A stalemate ensued from there. Texas A&M had a pair of two-out rallies in the sixth and seventh, getting two-out singles in each frame. But Houck pitched out of the jams both times. A&M knocked a bloop double to lead off the seventh inning that just went off the glove of a sliding Chris Cornelius (St. Louis, Mo.) in center field. A bunt single and an RBI single through the right side by Logan Foster gave the Aggies a 2-1 lead. Braden Shewmake then doubled to extend the lead to 4-1.

The Aggies broke the game open in the ninth inning with three more runs and that put the game away.

The two teams will be off Saturday before completing the series Sunday at 1 p.m. for the annual Bark at the Park game. For all the latest on all things Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team @MizzouBaseball and like the team on Facebook and Instagram (Missouri Baseball).

Potent Quotables
Head Coach Steve Bieser

Opening statement…
"Well I think everybody can see that we are struggling mightily offensively. We are not clicking on any cylinders right now. You say you always want to be clicking on all cylinders and I don't know if we are clicking on any at all. That's the frustrating part, which makes the game frustrating when you know that you are having trouble scoring and can't score. Everybody gets a little edgy and I think we saw that in the first game. Our guys got a little frustrated with their approach at the plate and we just kind of shut down. I liked the way that they responded in game two. I thought we had a lot of energy and played hard. That's the only way that we are going to get out of this funk we're in offensively is just to play the game hard."

Postgame Notes

Mizzou now trails the all-time series with Texas A&M, 35-49
Mizzou falls to 6-6 on Fridays this season
Mizzou falls to 14-12 in three-game series this season.
Mizzou is now 5-6 vs. SEC West teams this season.
RHP Tanner Houck has pitched through 6.0 innings in 35 of 41 career starts and through 7.0 innings in 22 of those starts.
Houck tallied his ninth performance with five or more strikeouts this season.
OF Kirby McGuire tallied his sixth multi-hit game of the season.
OF Johnny Balsamo tallied his first hit since March 4 against Illinois-Chicago