The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Missouri
Rally falls short as No. 3 Baseball drops 6-5 decision to Missouri
05.19.2006 | Baseball
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Despite bringing the tying run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth innings and scoring four times, No. 3 Texas could not pull off the comeback as Missouri held on for a 6-5 victory in front of 1,519 fans at Taylor Stadium on Friday, May 19.
The Longhorns' (31-16, 19-5 Big 12) loss to the Tigers (27-24, 10-15 Big 12) not only marked their first defeat in the last 11 games, but clinched a berth in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Tournament in Oklahoma City (May 24-28) for Mizzou.
Starters Max Scherzer for Missouri and Adrian Alaniz (Sinton, Texas) for Texas opened the ballgame with two scoreless frames apiece before the offenses traded runs in the third. While a double-play grounder with the bases loaded in the top of the inning gave UT a 1-0 lead, Mizzou used two walks and a two-out, RBI-single from Hunter Mense in the bottom of the third to deadlock the score at 1-1. Two innings later in the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers pulled in front 3-1 after a leadoff home run from Derek Chambers and a catcher's interference call to Ryan Lollis produced another score by combining with a stolen base and a two-out single from Brock Bond. Missouri then loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh on two walks and a bunt single before a two-run base hit from Evan Frey and a sac fly off the bat of Gary Arndt made it a 6-1 contest. Scherzer, meanwhile, retired 12 of his final 15 batters to keep UT's offense in check.
Although the Horns would load the bases to begin the eighth and receive a one-out, two-run single from Hunter Harris (Tulsa, Okla.) to pull within 6-3, Missouri reliever Travis Wendte struck out three of the four batters he faced to work out of further trouble. Continuing to rally, UT put its first two runners on in the ninth via an error and a hit to bring the tying run to the plate. While Wendte managed to retire his next two batters without surrendering a run, Drew Stubbs (Atlanta, Texas) came up with a run-scoring infield hit and Carson Kainer (Tomball, Texas) followed with a RBI-single to make it a one-run game at 6-5. With runners now on the corners and two down as the Horns had the tying run 90 feet away, Wendte induced his next batter to hit a grounder to the first baseman that preserved the victory and earned him his first save of the season. Picking up the win was Scherzer, who allowed only run on three hits and struck out eight over seven innings, while Alaniz shouldered the loss despite surrendering only two earned runs on five hits and fanning five over five innings of work.
Pacing Texas' offense was Fuller, who tied a career-best with three hits in four at bats while scoring one run, Stubbs, who went 2-for-3 with a RBI, and Harris, who drove in two of UT's runs with a single in the eighth. Missouri, meanwhile, had its attack led by the duo of Mense and Bond, who each went 2-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI. Of additional note for the Horns, Kainer and Harris extended their current hit streaks to 11 and five games, respectively.
These two teams continue their three-game set at Taylor Stadium with a 2 p.m. Central tilt on Saturday, May 20. Of note, Saturday's game will be televised by Fox Sports Midwest.
