Another day, another Missouri Tigers loss on the diamond as Mizzou dropped its game Tuesday night at Taylor Stadium to SIUE 11-5. The Tigers were bitten by allowing an eight-spot in the eighth as pitching plagues continue to haunt them. The offense got runs across but could never string them together.
A couple of off the field stories on the night were it was CoMo night with the Tigers debuting their new CoMo uniforms to represent the community tie in between Mizzou and Columbia. Mizzou alumni and NASCAR Hall of Famer Carl Edwards threw out the first pitch as part of the celebration.
Mizzou got off to a hot start as the first batter of the game, Freshman Blaize Ward, hit a solo home run. Catcher Juliomar Campos laced an RBI double down the left field line in the second to give Mizzou two runs in as many innings.
The sixth inning is where Mizzou got into trouble as Sam Rosand was left in one batter too long and allowed a solo shot to Gage Franck. Then Kadden Drew came on in relief and immediately allowed a single followed by a mammoth two-run home run by Joshua Hayder to knot the game at 3.
Mizzou was able to take the lead back as infielder Kam Durnin hit a sac fly in the seventh to make it 4-3.
The Tigers got into trouble again in the eighth as a walk and a balk led to the game becoming tied at 4, before a two-run home run by Mack Mitchell gave SIUE a 6-4 lead. That Mitchell homer went over the light post in left field, as that one was absolutely crushed. Juan Villareal, after allowing a double just after, was finally mercifully pulled from his hellish inning.
A pitching change had no benefit for Mizzou as, despite putting in PJ Green, pinch hitter Cooper Eggert launched a two-run homer to right to extend the lead 8-4. An RBI single would make it 9-4, followed by a couple more runs due to some Mizzou miscues, a bad throw to first, and a wild pitch, giving SIUE an 11-4 lead. The top of the eighth would take over an hour of time to complete, and it felt like much longer as it was just pure agony for the Tigers, as all eight runs allowed were unearned.
Outfielder Cameron Benson did hit a solo home run to try to make it more respectable 11-5, but nothing Mizzou did before or after that top of the eighth can make up for the impression it left on those at the ballpark.
A bright spot in an otherwise dreadful game for Mizzou was pitcher Dane Bjorn. Bjorn, usually a reliever in his first career start, threw three shutout innings, allowed two hits and struck out three.
The Tigers road doesn’t get any easier as they host No. 18 Arkansas this Thursday-Saturday at Taylor Stadium.