The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Missouri
No. 2 Baseball opens the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship with a 6-4 loss to Missouri
05.25.2011 | Baseball
May 25, 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The No. 2 Texas Longhorns dropped a 6-4 decision to the Missouri Tigers at RedHawks Field on Wednesday afternoon to open up play at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship.
With the loss, Texas (40-14), the No. 1 seed in the tournament falls into an elimination game to face the Baylor Bears at 9 a.m. on Thursday morning. Missouri (25-30) advances to play Oklahoma State in a 4 p.m. game on Thursday.
Three of Missouri's first four batters singled through the left side of the infield in the top of the first inning to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Conner Mach and Brannon Champagne started the frame with back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners and with one out, Jonah Schmidt broke the scoring seal with a singled to drive in Mach.
The Longhorns knotted the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning. Erich Weiss drew a four-pitch walk to start the frame and Paul Montalbano reached on a bunt single to brew up trouble. Jonathan Walsh pushed both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt and Kevin Lusson plated Weiss with a sacrifice fly to leftfield.
Missouri reclaimed the lead with a run in the top of the fourth. With one out, Blake Brown singled to centerfield and stole second base. Ben Turner drew a walk and Jesse Santo singled through the left side of the infield to load the bases. Hoby Milner came in from the bullpen to relieve UT starting pitcher Nathan Thornhill and hit the first batter he faced, C.J. Jarvis, to give the Tigers the 2-1 advantage.
Weiss deposited a lead-off home run over the rightfield fence to tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth.
The Tigers took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth. Champagne hit a lead-off single to leftfield and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Eric Garcia. With two outs, Brown drew a walk and Turner plated Champagne with a single up the middle.
Texas responded once again to tie the game at 3-3 in the home half of the fifth. With one out, Loy reached on an infield single and Mark Payton drew a walk to put two runners on. Loy moved to third on a deep fly out to centerfield by Tant Shepherd and scored on a single through the right side of the infield by Weiss.
Missouri pounced on the Longhorns for three runs in the top of the sixth. With two outs, Mach reached on an infield single and Champagne walked to put a pair on. Garcia followed with a chopper to second base where Jordan Etier elected not to charge the ball and it took a bad hop. Garcia was credited with an infield single to load the bases and Schmidt made the Longhorns pay for the fielding indiscretion with a three-run double to the wall in left centerfield, staking the Tigers to a 6-3 lead.
Texas mounted a late rally that came up short. In the eighth inning, Montalbano hit a lead-off double to the gap in right centerfield and moved to third on a groundout by Walsh. After Lusson struck out looking, Etier doubled over the head of the rightfielder to cut the lead to 6-4. After Cohl Walla drew a pinch-hit walk to bring the go-ahead run to the plate, Loy grounded out to the shortstop to snuff out the rally.
Kendal Carrillo (4-1) was saddled with the loss for Texas. He yielded three runs on four hits and one walk over 1.1 innings. Thornhill worked 3.1 innings in the start, allowing two runs on six hits and one walk while striking out five.
Eric Anderson (3-0) earned the win for Missouri with his longest outing of the season. He allowed three runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out four over 7.0 innings. Phil McCormick earned his seventh save of the season, allowing one run on three hits and one walk while striking out three over 2.0 innings.
Weiss led the Texas offensive attack going 2-for-4 with one walk, two runs, one home run and two RBI. Tant Shepherd, Montalbano and Walsh each logged two hits.
Champagne paced all batters with three hits, going 3-for-4 with two runs and one stolen base. Mach went 2-for-5 with two runs. Schmidt was 2-for-5 with one double and four RBI. Brown went 2-for-4 with one run and one stolen base.
