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LEXINGTON, Ky. – Despite a strong effort from its pitching staff, No. 25/29 Missouri came up on the short end of a 3-1 decision to No. 12/16 Kentucky Sunday afternoon, as the Wildcats completed a three-game Southeastern Conference series sweep of the Tigers at Kentucky Proud Park.
Mizzou (19-9, 3-6 SEC) outhit the Wildcats by a 6-5 margin and consistently generated traffic on the basepaths, coaxing nine walks and three additional free bases via hit by pitches from UK hurlers. But the Tigers struggled to move them, leaving 16 runners on base—including 11 in scoring position—in dropping their sixth consecutive SEC contest.
Kentucky (25-3, 8-1 SEC) continued its hot start to the conference season, winning its 21st game in its last 22 outings, including eight of nine in SEC play.
Tiger starting pitcher Chandler Murphy (3-2) limited the Wildcats to one earned run (two total) on four hits over 6.0 innings.
But UK took advantage of a two-out infield single and a pair of Mizzou miscues to score the game’s first run in the third. After Murphy recorded back-to-back strikeouts to open the frame, Jackson Gray narrowly beat the throw to first on a chopper to second to extend the inning.
Gray moved into scoring position when catcher Tre Morris’ throw back to the mound struck the UK batter, then came around on another Tiger error on Jase Felker’s ground ball to first.
Wildcats starting pitcher Zack Lee kept the Tigers off balance throughout the early stages, retiring the first eight batters of the game in succession before running into trouble with two out in the third. Lee hit Justin Colon with a pitch to put the first Mizzou runner on base, then walked Luke Mann and Trevor Austin to load the bases.
But the right-hander regrouped to strike out Dalton Bargo to leave the bases full of Tigers, beginning a trend that would plague Mizzou throughout the day. The Tigers would ultimately strand multiple baserunners in six of the nine innings.
After failing to score in the fourth to extend their scoreless drought to 14 straight innings, the Tigers broke through against Lee in the fifth. Colon’s one-out single sparked the threat, before Austin’s RBI single to right-center field brought in the tying run.
UK answered immediately in the home half of the fifth, as a Nolan McCarthy infield hit and a Kendal Ewell sacrifice put a runner in scoring position. Grant Smith followed with a base hit to right-center on an 0-2 pitch from Murphy to put the Wildcats in front to stay.
A bases-loaded walk to Emilien Pitre in the eighth plated the third UK run, after Gray singled against Rorik Maltrud to start the inning.
The Tigers put runners on base in each of the final seven innings but left them loaded in three of those. Mizzou put the potential tying and go-ahead runs aboard in every inning after the Wildcats reclaimed the lead, but five different UK relievers combined to slam the door shut.
Mason Moore (1-0) earned the victory after working 2.0 scoreless innings, followed by 2 1/3 combined innings of one-hit relief from Zach Hise, Ryan Hagenow and Seth Chavez to close out the game.
Mann paced the Mizzou offense by drawing four walks, while Hank Zeisler reached safely in three of his four trips to the plate.
TIGER NOTEBOOK
- Missouri fell to 12-18 all-time vs. Kentucky, including a 4-10 mark in Lexington
- The Tigers concluded their nine-game road trip with a 3-6 record
- Mizzou dropped its first Sunday contest of the season, falling to 6-1 in such games
- Mann saw his eight-game win streak end with an 0-for-1 afternoon
- The Tigers fifth-inning run stopped a string of 14-straight scoreless innings against UK pitching, dating back to the sixth inning of Friday’s series opener
- UK pitching limited the Tigers to three runs and a team .179 batting average over the three-game series
UP NEXT
Mizzou returns to Columbia to open a three-game SEC series against Vanderbilt, beginning with a 6 p.m. contest Thursday (April 6) at Taylor Stadium.
Single-game tickets for all Mizzou baseball home games in 2023 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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