Mizzou baseball drops the finale against South Carolina, gets swept again
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou baseball team remains winless in Southeastern Conference action when inside the walls of Taylor Stadium, this season.
On Saturday, head coach Kerrick Jackson and his team lost 6-4 to South Carolina, which resulted in a sweep for the struggling Gamecocks squad. For the Tigers, that marks the third-straight home weekend that they have been swept by a conference foe, as the team is 0-9 in SEC home games.
You can watch the full postgame press conference with Jackson, as well as shortstop Kam Durnin in the video player below.
The bright spot of the afternoon came from the former Gamecock Jase Woita, who slugged a two-run home run in the fourth inning to get his team within one. However, the South Carolina bats had a little bit more juice, on Saturday.
USC got on the board first, thanks to an RBI single that brought home two runs off the bat of Dawson Harmon. That 2-0 lead for the road team came as right-hander Sam Rosand got his second start of the season. He ended up throwing for 2.2 inning and gave up those pair of runs on four hits.
After that, left-hander Ian Lohse came out of the bullpen in relief and quickly gave up a solo homer to Harmon to stretch South Carolina's lead to three in the top of the fourth.
Meanwhile, Gamecocks starter Alex Valentin had a perfect game going into the fourth inning, but Woita managed to break it up with his seventh home run of the season. That made it a 3-2 ball game at Taylor Stadium.
However, South Carolina always had a response. In the sixth inning, KJ Scobey and Harmon each hit home runs to get their team up by three runs. By the time the ninth inning rolled around, the Gamecocks built up a four-run with a behemoth of a home run off the bat of Will Craddock.
In the bottom of the ninth, down 6-2, Mizzou somehow found a way to rally. With a runner in scoring position, an infield single from defensive replacement Jamal Georgia brought home one run to make it a three-run game. Then, his teammate Donovan Jordan delivered another blow to South Carolina, hammering a two-out double into left center to make it a 6-4 ball game. However, that was where the rally ended, as Blaize Ward popped out into right field to end the game.
With the loss, Mizzou moved to 20-17 overall and 3-12 in Southeastern Conference play.
Next up - Coach Jackson and his team will begin a road swing. First, the Tigers will play in an in-state rivalry against Missouri State on Tuesday at 6:30. Then, the road trip will continue down to Norman, Oklahoma, where MU will play three games against the No. 16 Sooners.
