The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Missouri
Baseball drops Big 12 Championship opener to Missouri, 5-0
05.23.2012 | Baseball
May 23, 2012
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The Texas Longhorns allowed one run in the third inning and four in the fourth and were unable to rebound in a 5-0 loss to the Missouri Tigers on the opening day of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on Wednesday evening.
With the loss, Texas (30-21) faces an elimination game on Thursday afternoon against the Kansas Jayhawks. First pitch for the game is slated for 12:30 p.m.
Missouri (29-26) drew first blood in the top of the third inning. Blake Brown doubled to the gap in left centerfield to start the frame and moved to third with a groundout to second base by Ben Turner. Conner Mach staked the Tigers to a 1-0 lead with a double down the leftfield line, driving in Brown.
The Tigers tacked on four more runs in the fourth inning. Andreas Plackis singled up the middle to start the inning and moved to second with a sacrifice bunt by Scott Sommerfeld. Dillon Everett singled to leftfield to put runners on the corners. Eric Garcia pushed the lead to 2-0 with a single through the left side of the infield. Brown hit a two-run double to the warning track in left centerfield to plate two runs, giving Missouri a 4-0 lead. Brown advanced to on the throw home on his two-bagger and scored on a wild pitch to inflate the Tigers' cushion to 5-0.
Corey Knebel (4-5) was saddled with the loss for Texas. He yielded five runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out one over 4.1 innings.
Rob Zastryzny (5-5) and Dusty Ross combined on the shutout for Missouri. Zastryzny scattered five hits and recorded three strikeouts in 8.1 innings to earn the win. Ross retired both batters he faced to close out the game.
Weiss led Texas' offense, batting 2-for-4 with one double.
Brown powered Missouri's offense going 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs and two RBI. Mach also had two doubles on the evening, hitting 2-for-4 with one RBI. Turner added a pair of hits to round out Tigers with multiple hits on the day.
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