Mizzou baseball drops series at Georgia

A pair of Mizzou comebacks, one that came up short and one that was successful, set up a crucial rubber match on Saturday between Missouri and Georgia, and it was the Bulldogs (27-9, 7-8 Southeastern Conference) that emerged victorious, taking the series.

Charlie Condon, the nation’s best player, gave the Tigers (16-21, 5-10) problems all weekend, registering multi-hit games in each of the three matchups. However, the Tigers never said die in the series and even took the middle game thanks to a late-inning comeback.

Thursday

Missouri’s ferocious comeback attempt fell short Thursday night, and the Tigers fell 15-10 to the Bulldogs to open the series.

Despite scoring first, Mizzou trailed 11-1 heading to the sixth inning after Georgia plated four in the fourth and six in the fifth. But just as the game’s result began to look like a formality, the Tigers clawed their way back.

A five-run sixth inning highlighted by a Kaden Peer 2-run homer and Brock Daniels 2-RBI double pulled the score to 11-6. A run in the seventh and three more in the eighth made it 13-10, and the Tigers officially had the Bulldogs sweating.

When push came to shove, however, UGA answered. A homer and a Condon RBI double in the ninth gave the Bulldogs two insurance runs, and a 15-10 win.

Condon absolutely tormented the Tigers all night going 4-for-4 with two homers, a double, and five RBI in the game.

Matt Garcia went 4-for-5 to lead the Tigers. Daniels and Peer also had multi-hit games.

Missouri pitching underwhelmed from start to finish. Carter Rustad made it through just 3.1 innings, allowing seven hits and five earned runs. Kaden Jacobi was the lone Tiger reliever to not allow multiple runs, tossing a scoreless sixth inning.

Friday

While Mizzou’s bid for a comeback failed on Thursday, the Tigers successfully rallied late for a 6-5 win in extra innings Friday night.

Two battters after Jeric Curtis singled home Thomas Curry in the seventh inning, Missouri second baseman Trevor Austin stepped up to the plate with the Tigers trailing 4-2, and promptly changed the score.

With two runners on, Austin got a hanging breaking ball, and he didn’t miss it, depositing it over the left-center wall to give Missouri a 5-4 advantage.

The Bulldogs tied the game in the ninth to send it extras, but it was Missouri that found the winning run in the 10th.

With the infield in and Peer on third, Missouri catcher Jedier Hernandez pushed a ball the other way, and it ate up UGA second baseman Tre Phelps to score Peer and make it 6-5.

The Tigers still needed three outs, but Ryan Magdic didn’t make the same mistake he did in the ninth, striking out the side to secure the win for Mizzou.

Magdic and Brock Lucas were spectacular in relief of Logan Lunceford, combining to go six innings and allowing two earned runs. Magdic struck out eight of the 15 batters he faced.

Austin’s homer led the Tigers at the plate, but Hernandez and Drew Culberston also had multi-hit games.

Saturday

In the rubber match, it was Georgia that found the fatal blow, a four-run fourth inning, to put Mizzou away 10-7 and win the series.

After Georgia plated five in the first two innings, Missouri answered with four in the third and another in the fourth to tie the game at 5. The big blows were a 2-RBI double from Daniels and homer from Tucker Moore. But Georgia made sure the bliss of Mizzou’s rally was short lived.

Registering just one hit, the Dawgs plated four in the fourth inning to take a 9-5 lead. They used three HBP, three walks, a single, and a sacrifice fly to do the damage.

Mizzou never recovered from the self-inflicted mistakes of the fourth, scoring just two more runs. Both came in the ninth inning on a Matt Garcia homer to right field. The Tigers did get the tying run on deck in the ninth but never truly threatened the Dawgs and lost 10-7.

Curtis was a spark plug atop Mizzou’s lineup going 3-for-4 with a walk and two stolen bases. Garcia, Daniels, and Culbertson also each had two-hit games.

Mizzou starter Javyn Pimental threw his worst outing of SEC play, surrendering seven runs in just 3.1 innings.