Mizzou Baseball swept by Alabama

The Tigers’ offense has slowed down the last two weeks

Mizzou Baseball came close to its first conference win but was ultimately swept by Alabama this weekend in Tuscaloosa.

The Tigers are now 0-21 in SEC play with nine conference games remaining.

THURSDAY

Mizzou held a lead for most of the series opener but was unable to hold on at the end, losing 7-5.

Kerrick Jackson’s squad jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning and held on to that lead until the bottom of the sixth.

Alabama’s pitching and defense had a slow start to the game, allowing Jackson Lovich to score on a throwing error by the Crimson Tide starter, Tyler Fay.

Cayden Nicoletto hit a sacrifice fly to left field the next at-bat, scoring Kaden Peer to make it 2-0.

Chris Patterson and Gehrig Goldbeck continued the rally with singles, bringing around Keegan Knutson for a three run advantage.

Peyton Basler was hit by a pitch two at-bats later, loading the bases with two outs for Brady Picarelli.

The true freshman came through, knocking a single through the right side to score Goldbeck and Patterson to put the Tigers ahead 5-0.

Alabama got its offense started in the bottom of the second on a two-run home run to right field by Will Hodo, cutting the lead to three.

The runs were the only ones Brady Kehlenbrink would allow in his three innings on the mound after he stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the third. He ended his day having allowed four hits and two earned runs with two walks and three punchouts in his three innings.

The next two innings passed quietly as Xavier Lovett entered in relief. But he ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth, allowing the Crimson Tide to tie the game.

Back-to-back singles earlier in the inning set Garrett Staton up to tie the game with one swing as he homered to right-center field, making it 5-5.

But Mizzou had a prime opportunity to retake the lead in the top of the eighth.

Two walks and a single by Patterson loaded the bases with one out, putting the Tigers on the brink of pulling ahead late in the game.

Basler grounded out, reaching on a fielder’s choice as Alabama forced out Nicoletto at home, and Picarelli struck out swinging to end the inning.

The Crimson Tide immediately made Mizzou pay.

Coleman Mizell hit a two-run homer to right-center in the bottom half of the inning, giving the hosts a 7-5 lead.

And Carson Ozmer sent the Tigers down quickly in the top of the ninth, clinching game one for Alabama.

FRIDAY

Alabama jumped out to a 6-0 lead in game two and never looked back, taking home a 7-3 victory and the series win.

Mizzou starter Wil Libbert threw a scoreless first two innings before allowing the game’s first two runs in the bottom of the third.

Kade Snell hit a two-run home run to right field after Justin Lebron’s leadoff walk, giving the Crimson Tide the game’s first lead.

Libbert’s struggles continued later in the frame as he loaded the bases, but he bounced back with an inning-ending strikeout to hold off any further damage.

The redshirt freshman ended his day with four hits and two earned runs allowed alongside five walks and four strikeouts in three innings pitched.

He was replaced by Kaden Jacobi, who allowed four runs in the bottom of the fifth after a clean opening inning.

The hosts hit three consecutive singles to begin the frame, then Hodo was hit-by-pitch to bring in a run. Mizell brought home two more with the bases loaded two at-bats later, making it 5-0.

And Bryce Fowler plated Hodo the next at-bat on a groundout, extending the lead to six.

The Tigers’ offense finally got up and running on the top of the sixth as Patterson tripled to left field, scoring Knutson after he was hit-by-pitch earlier in the inning.

Pierre Seals followed with a single through the right side, bringing around Patterson to make it 6-2.

And the Tigers engineered another run with small ball in the top of the seventh, bringing home Goldbeck on consecutive sacrifice flies by Lovich and Peer to cut the deficit to three.

But Jason Torres responded with a leadoff home run to left field in the bottom of the seventh, and the teams were held scoreless in the final two innings as Alabama clinched the 7-3 win.

SATURDAY

The Crimson Tide scored eight runs in the top of the second on the way to a 12-1 run-rule victory in the series finale.

Sam Horn started the game and pitched a clean first inning.

But Alabama teed off on him in the second with a three-run blast to right-center by Hodo and solo shot to left by Torres, taking a 4-0 lead by the time he was pulled from the game for Tony Neubeck.

He entered the game and immediately allowed a two-run home run to right by Fowler, 6-0.

Doubles by Snell and Richie Bonomolo, Jr., put the seventh and eighth runs of the inning on the board.

Mizzou scored its only run of the game in the top of the third on a leadoff home run to left-center field by Mateo Serna, 8-1.

But the Tide responded with two more runs in the bottom of the inning on singles by Snell and Bonomolo, Jr., to take a 10-1 advantage.

Alabama took a double-digit lead in the bottom of the fourth on a solo homer to right-center field by Hodo, putting the hosts in run-rule territory.

Brady Neal added one final run in the bottom of the fifth for good measure, hitting a single up the middle to make it 12-1.

The game’s last inning provided a pleasant surprise for the Tigers as Ian Lohse made his return from injury, throwing a scoreless inning, but the Tide wrapped up the series sweep in the bottom of the seventh.

TAKEAWAYS

Chris Patterson continues to impress as a true freshman. He went 4-11 this weekend with two runs and two RBI and is now hitting .254 despite playing most of his games against SEC competition.

That number is down from earlier in the year but remains impressive for a true freshman, and he has the look of a future program cornerstone.

Brady Picarelli has the potential to have a similar impact in the future. He hasn’t played as much once the team reached SEC play but went 2-4 with two RBI Thursday, and will be a breakout candidate next spring.

Brady Kehlenbrink has also had a solid last few weeks and will be someone to watch over this final stretch of the season. If that improvement continues during that span, he may have turned a corner in his development entering the offseason – a much-needed positive for this pitching staff.

OVERALL OUTLOOK

This pitching staff is beginning to get a bit healthier.

Sam Horn struggled in his second outing, but the arm talent is there. Meanwhile, Josh McDevitt threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts after struggling in his first outing against Missouri State.

Ian Lohse returned and pitched in a game for the first time since April, giving the Tigers back three potential impact pitchers in the span of a week.

Those three pitchers, combined with increasingly reliable (if not spectacular) outing from Kehlenbrink and Libbert alongside established relievers like Lovett and P.J. Green, might just give this team a real shot to win a game in SEC play down the stretch.

The question now is if it happened too late. The Tigers’ offense stood out early in SEC play but has scored more than five runs just once in the last seven games, possibly a symptom of the strain placed on the team’s attack by its pitching this year.

Mizzou will need to get its offense back on track in order to have a chance of securing at least one SEC win in the final nine games of conference play. If they can accomplish this, a somewhat stabilized pitching staff could give them a real shot to get that victory.

UP NEXT

The Tigers head into enemy territory Tuesday for the first game of a home-and-home with kU. They’ll face the Jayhawks in Lawrence at 6 p.m., and the game will stream on ESPN+.