Late collapse prevents Mizzou comeback victory in rubber match against Northern Kentucky
| March 03, 2024 | Sports,
It was a depressing display of defensive deficiency as Missouri baseball lost Game 3 16-15 to Northern Kentucky. After an offensive masterclass, the Tigers were unable to come back and win the series despite outscoring the Norse 45-29 on the weekend.
On an afternoon where the Tigers trailed by as many as nine, a furious comeback put them back in front after the sixth inning, but ultimately they could not sustain the momentum as the Norse plated three in the final two innings.
While no errors were recorded, Mizzou struggled immensely on the defensive end. Starter Logan Lunceford lasted just over an inning and routine plays looked difficult all day as the Tigers failed to track down fly balls, stay in front of ground balls, keep pitches in front of them, or make the right throws.
Treyvin Moss moved into the leadoff spot for Northern Kentucky and made his presence felt early as he tripled off the right-center wall. Cleary Simpson followed suit as he dropped an RBI single into left-center to open the scoring and put the Norse ahead 1-0.
The Tigers responded in kind in the bottom of the first as a Trevor Austin triple let Tucker Moore come around to score.
Austin would get his last 90 feet after Jackson Lovich spiked a chopper to third base, putting Mizzou in front 2-1 at the end of 1st inning.
Lunceford lost control in the top of the 2nd. He gave up six runs, with the first two coming off a wild pitch and an RBI double while the final four came off the bat of Liam McFadden-Ackman, who cleared the bases with a grand slam.
With that, Lunceford’s day was done after just an inning and a third.
Brock Lucas was far from a calming presence on the mound. His afternoon started with a hard-hit ball that Colon could not find to put Jake Paulick aboard. After a walk, Logen Devenport sliced one down the right field line to bring two more runs around. The damage would end there as Mizzou left the top of the second in a 9-2 hole.
The Norse would pick things back up in the fourth. A double from Mitch Wood would put an end to Brock Lucas’s day. Ryan Magdic took over pitching duties and limited the inning’s damage to two runs. One run came from a Kaden Peer misjudged fly ball in center and the other from a Shaneyfelt triple.
Jackson Lovich and Thomas Curry opened the fourth with two straight home runs to center field, but Mizzou was unable to eat any deeper into the deficit as they left the fifth trailing 11-4.
Mitch Wood caught the home run bug in the top of the fifth as he drilled a ball over the left field fence growing the Norse lead to 8 at the halfway mark.
Missouri finally started to get the bats rolling as the offense put up four runs in the fifth to cut the Norse lead in half. It all started with Treyvin Moss losing a ball in left field, resulting in a leadoff ground rule double.
Ben Gerl had a chance to stomp out the momentum but he overthrew his second baseman, thwarting a double play opportunity and ending his day.
Ryan Pershon took over duties on the mound and did not pitch horribly, but a litany of errors from his defense and an RBI single from Trevor Austin helped the Tigers to four runs in the fifth as they made it 12-8. It could have been more if not for aggressive baserunning from Austin who was thrown at home by the right fielder Moss.
The Tigers picked up right where they left off in the fifth with a six-run effort in the sixth to grab the lead 14-12. Jedier Hernandez both homered and hit a sacrifice fly. Curry added another RBI, and some pitching instability resulted in three Tigers runs scoring on bases-loaded walks.
In the seventh, both teams traded 2-out scores, so Mizzou retained its two-run advantage entering the eighth. While Northern Kentucky notched one in the eighth off a Treyvin Moss sacrifice fly, they missed a huge opportunity to tie the game by leaving the bases loaded.
Jacob Peaden took over pitching duties in the top of the ninth with a chance to earn a save. But after two swings of the bat, NKU had tied the game. After a fielding gaffe and a wild pitch, NKU had its second run of the inning and went into the bottom of the ninth up a run.
Despite Peaden’s pitching yesterday, Kerrick Jackson still had faith in his ability to close, but wanted to emphasize that the responsibility extended to the players around him.
“You’re going to get yourself out, he’s not,” Jackson said.
Mizzou failed to generate anything in the bottom of the ninth. Only three batters saw the plate and only one got the ball in the air. With that, Mizzou fell to Northern Kentucky 16-15.
Mizzou falls to 5-6 on the season and will face off against Lindenwood on Tuesday before a weekend series at home against Purdue-Ft. Wayne. Northern Kentucky improves to 3-7 and will travel to Bloomington on Tuesday for a date with Indiana ahead of their weekend series against Western Illinois.