Mizzou baseball topples No. 6 Florida for first SEC series win of the Kerrick Jackson era
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
First-year Mizzou baseball coach Kerrick Jackson finally has his first SEC series win and his Tigers did it in Top-10 fashion. MU upset No. 6 Florida with a 4-3 win on Saturday to clinch the series.
You can watch extended highlights of Saturday's series-clincher in the video player below.
The win came on the heels of an 11th inning, walk-off win on Friday night, as Mizzou will look for the series sweep on Sunday afternoon. The victory put Jackson's crew at 14-18 overall and 3-8 in conference action.
The Tigers got off to an early lead in the first inning, as Jeric Curtis scored on a wild pitch from Florida and Kaden Peer hit an RBI single to the right side.
MU held that two-run lead into the fifth inning, when Florida finally got on the board. The Gators' Jaylen Guy plated a run off of starting pitcher Javyn Pimental, which was the only run he gave up all afternoon. However, after giving up that run, Jackson sent in St. Elizabeth alum Brock Lucas to throw in relief.
Lucas did give up a two-run homer in his first inning of action, but his teammates provided some run support to regain the 4-3 lead over Florida heading into the seventh inning. In that frame, Lucas was clutch for the Tigers. The Gators had the bases loaded with two outs, but Lucas punched out his third batter of the afternoon to get out of the inning with no damage.
The St. Elizabeth alum did earn the win at Taylor Stadium to remain undefeated, 4-0 overall, in 2024.
Pitcher Ryan Magdic came up with his first save of the season with two innings of work, registering one strikeout and allowing just one hit.
Ironically enough, catcher Jedier Hernandez drove in the tying run for Mizzou in the sixth inning, just one day after he hit the game-winning run in the 11th for the first win against the Gators.
Despite giving up Florida's first run of the afternoon, Pimental finished with a solid day on the hill. He allowed just one earned run on three hits, while punching out five batters.
Up next - Mizzou will look for the series sweep against No. 6 Florida on Sunday, April 7. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
