The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Missouri
No. 2 Baseball loses 2-1 to Missouri in Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship semifinal game
05.28.2011 | Baseball
May 28, 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - After staving off elimination in three consecutive games, the No. 2 Texas Longhorns lost a semifinal game, 2-1, against the Missouri Tigers at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at RedHawks Field on Saturday afternoon.
The victory sent Missouri (27-31) to the championship game to face the Texas A&M Aggies on Sunday afternoon.
Hoby Milner (6-4) was the hard-luck loser for the Longhorns. He limited the Tigers to two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out four over 7.0 innings. Andrew McKirahan, Corey Knebel and Kendal Carrillo combined for two innings of hitless relief.
Missouri countered with a career-best effort by starter Kelly Fick (2-2). He pitches 7.0 shutout innings, scattering four hits while striking out three. Dusty Ross yielded the Longhorns only run in 0.1 innings of work before Phil McCormick slammed the door to earn his eighth save of the season. McCormick allowed two walks but fanned four over 1.2 innings.
Playing each other for the second time on the day, after Texas won a 9 a.m. contest by a score of 6-1, the two teams combined for just eight hits with Missouri making the most of the three they mustered up.
Missouri drew first blood in the top of the second. Jonah Schmidt reached on a lead-off single up the middle and after Milner retired the next two batters, Jesse Santo roped a double into the gap in left centerfield, driving in Schmidt for the 1-0 lead.
The Tigers tacked on another run when Blake Brown hit the first pitch of the seventh inning over the leftfield fence to stake Missouri to a 2-0 lead.
Texas (43-15) mounted a rally in the eighth inning. Jordan Etier singled through the left side of the infield and Kevin Lusson drew a pinch-hit walk to start the frame. Brandon Loy sacrificed both runners into scoring position and Mark Payton drew a walk to load the bases. Tant Shepherd bounced a high chopper to prevent a double play and Etier scored on the RBI groundout. With runners on the corners, Erich Weiss struck out swinging to end the rally with Texas trailing 2-1.
The Longhorns got leadoff singles in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings and successfully bunted the runner to second base in three of the innings, but were unable push a run across.
On Sunday evening, Texas will find out if will host a regional and the regional pairings will be released on Monday.
