Late Mizzou comeback falls short in home finale
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mizzou Baseball mounted a late comeback on Sunday afternoon against Auburn but was unable to completely erase its deficit, falling 9-7 in the team's final home game of the season. The Mizzou Tigers have now lost their last five SEC series and remain outside the SEC Tournament field.
MU mathematically remains in contention to make the SEC Tournament after losses by both LSU and Florida on Sunday. The Baton Rouge Tigers have a two-game lead on Mizzou while Florida has a three-game lead with one SEC weekend left. The MU Tigers hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Gators.
You can watch the full postgame press conference with Mizzou baseball coach Kerrick Jackson in the video player below.
Auburn scored four unanswered runs to start Sunday's action, highlighted by a solo home run from Cade Belyeu in the second inning. After Mizzou pushed its first run across the plate on an RBI double from Danny Corona in the sixth frame, Auburn responded with five more unanswered runs, courtesy of a three-run shot from Chris Stanfield and a two-RBI single from Deric Fabian. MU trailed 9-1 entering the bottom of the eighth inning but rallied to score five runs in that same frame, stringing together six straight singles. Trevor Austin pulled Mizzou within two runs of tying the game in the final inning by blasting his 11th home run of the season, but one batter later, Jedier Hernandez grounded out to end the game.
Austin ended the game 4-for-4 with a double and a home run, finishing the last home game of his senior season just a triple shy of the cycle. He also tallied one RBI and scored three times. Matt Garcia was the only other Mizzou Tiger to post a multi-hit performance, ending the afternoon with three hits including a double and an RBI.
Mizzou recorded four more hits than Auburn, posting 13 total hits as a team. Austin, Garcia, Hernandez, Danny Corona and Kaden Peer each finished the game with an RBI, and collectively, MU batted .429 with six hits with runners in scoring position.
Ryan Magdic was the losing pitcher in Sunday's game, giving up four hits and four earned runs over six innings on the mound. Bryce Mayer, Brock Lucas and Jacob Peaden all pitched one inning out of the bullpen. Peaden was the only one of the three relievers to not allow a run to cross the plate.
Up next - Mizzou hits the road for Starkville to wrap up the regular season against No. 14 Mississippi State. The first game of MU's final SEC series of the 2024 campaign is scheduled to start on Thursday, May 16 at 6 p.m.
