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COLUMBIA, Mo. – After finding itself in an early six-run hole, the Missouri baseball team scored 11 unanswered runs over a two-inning stretch to run away with a 15-7 victory over Texas Southern Sunday afternoon at Taylor Stadium that completed a series sweep and stretched the Tigers’ win streak to seven games.
Luke Mann led the Tiger attack with a 3-for-5 day at the plate that included the go-ahead three-run homer as part of a nine-run, fourth-inning outburst by Mizzou (9-2). Jackson Lovich added a two-run shot in the game’s key rally that saw the Tigers send 14 batters to the plate in scoring nine times to wipe out a 6-0 Texas Southern lead.
Lovich went 3-for-5 with four RBIs, coming up just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle in his first collegiate start. Justin Colon added three hits to go along with a career highs of three runs scored and three RBIs, either scoring or driving in a run in four separate Mizzou scoring rallies.
On the mound, the duo of Austin Troesser and Daniel Wissler combined to hold TSU to a single run on four hits over the final 5.0 innings.
The victory, Mizzou’s seventh in a row and its ninth in its last 10 games, did not come without adversity, as Texas Southern (7-6) struck for six early runs before the Tigers put a single runner in scoring position. CJ Castillo sparked a pair of early scoring opportunities for TSU, singling and scoring on Daalen Adderley’s sacrifice as part of a two-run first inning for the Tigers.
Texas Southern built a 6-0 lead in the third, handing Mizzou its largest deficit of the season courtesy of a two-out, four-run rally. After Tiger starter Rorik Maltrud dispatched the first two hitters of the inning, Castillo ignited the surge with a base hit through the left side. Adderley drove in a second run with a single to make it a 3-0 contest, and Olivo unloaded on Maltrud’s 1-0 pitch, launching a three-run shot over the wall in left-center to give TSU a six-run cushion.
But Mizzou responded in a big way in the fourth, using the first of Jackson Lovich’s three consecutive hits to open what would become the Tigers’ biggest inning of the season to date. Following a walk and a hit batsman, Ty Wilmsmeyer put his squad on the board with an RBI single, and Cam Chick drew a bases-loaded walk to force a second run home.
Next, Colon delivered a crucial two-run single, before Mann lifted his fifth home run of the season over the right-center field fence to put Mizzou on top to stay at 7-6.
After a walk to Matt Garcia, Lovich followed Mann’s lead and drove a two-run shot out to left to extend the lead to three runs. The freshman brought home two more runs with his two-out double in the fifth, after Colon was hit by a pitch and Mann singled with one out.
Mizzou added two-run rallies in the seventh and the eighth, outscoring TSU by a 15-1 margin over the final six frames.
TSU’s lone run over the final six innings came in the sixth via a Roderick Coffee homer off Troesser (1-1), who earned the win after striking out a pair and scattering three hits in 3.0 innings of relief. Wissler then finished off the Tigers with 2.0 innings of one-hit relief, over which he fanned four hitters.
TIGER NOTEBOOK
- Mizzou remained unbeaten (4-0) at home in 2023 and improved to 386-225 all-time at Taylor Stadium
- The Tigers’ seven-game win streak represents their longest since claiming seven straight wins, Feb. 21-March 6, 2022
- The Tigers’ early six-run deficit marked their largest of the season
- Luke Mann’s fourth-inning homer marked his 33rd as a Tiger, moving him into sole possession of ninth place on Mizzou’s career home run list
- Mann went 7-for-14 with three homers and seven RBIs in Mizzou’s four games this past week
- The Tigers hit .337 as a club with an on-base percentage of .472 during the series, outscoring TSU by a 31-14 margin
- Mizzou’s 9-2 start matches last season’s opening 11-game stretch as the program’s best since the 2017 season, when the Tigers won 20 of their first 21 games
- Sunday’s announced attendance of 1,261 gives Mizzou three consecutive gates of over 1,100 to start the home portion of its 2023 schedule
UP NEXT
Mizzou will continue its 13-game home stand with a 3 p.m. non-conference contest against Western Illinois on Tuesday (March 7). Single-game tickets for the 2023 season are on sale now and can be purchased by calling 1-800-CAT-PAWS, or by visiting MUTigers.com/feature/BSBTix.
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