Alabama held on to defeat Missouri 3-2 Sunday afternoon, completing its series sweep at Taylor Stadium.
Ty Wilmsmeyer led off the game for the Tigers with a single into center field off Jacob McNairy. That would be the only hit in the first 5 innings of the game.
It was obvious early that runs would be rare and hard to come by so every last one mattered. McNairy for the Crimson Tide and Logan Lunceford for the Tigers gave it their all on the mound.
Lunceford pitched a no hitter into the fifth before Tommy Seidl hit a solo shot that might still by going over the Mizzou bullpen in left field. Seriously, it was at least 400 feet. It was a bomb that broke open the scoring to give Bama a 1-0 lead.
Wilmsmeyer earned the Tigers’ second hit of the game in the bottom of the sixth, and he ended up stealing second, advancing on an infield out, and scoring on a wild pitch to tie the game at 1 in the bottom of the sixth. The Tigers knocked off McNairy after giving up a single to Hank Zeisler to put runners at first and third with two outs. The Tigers failed to capitalize on a Kade Woods walk to load the bases which proved to be a vital out for the Tide in what would be a close game.
Lunceford only gave up two hits in his 6.1 IP. Unfortunately for him and the Tigers, both were solo shots. The second was hit by Andrew Pinckney which also went over the left field wall to give the lead right back to the Crimson Tide 2-1.
After walking Drew Williamson, Lunceford would receive a deserved standing ovation from the tiger faithful at Taylor Stadium as Austin Troesser came in to relieve him. Troesser would give up a double to Caden rose and then what would prove to be the game winning RBI single to Mac Guscette.
However, the Tigers gave it everything they had. In the bottom of the seventh, Matt Garcia scored to bring the Tigers within one after a leadoff single and some help courtesy of an error on a pickoff by Woods. In a pinch-hit spot, Tre Morris hit the sac-fly.
The Tigers had no answer for Alton Davis II until Garcia doubled down the right field line to put the tying run in scoring position with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Missouri called on Juju Stevens to pinch hit the tying-run in, but he ultimately fell short as he popped out to the second basemen.
The Tigers fall to 5-13 in conference (23-16 overall) while the Crimson Tide improve to 9-9 in conference (29-12 overall).The Tigers look to bounce back at SIUE Wednesday, and the Crimson Tide will try to keep the momentum rolling at home vs Samford Tuesday.