May 1, 2011
Box Score
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Mizzou baseball team fell in the series finale with No. 6 Texas A&M, 3-2, in a rain-shortened game on Sunday afternoon (May 1) at Taylor Stadium. The Aggies scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, completing a comeback as Mizzou owned a 2-0 lead heading into the fifth inning. The loss drops the Tigers to 19-25 and 6-11 in Big 12 play this season. The game lasted just seven innings as rain forced the cancellation of the game.
Mizzou scored two unearned runs in the first four innings, but could only muster three hits in the game off of Texas A&M starter Ross Stripling, who earned his ninth win of the season after throwing 7.0 innings while striking out seven. Tiger reliever Dusty Ross was tagged with the loss allowing a run to score in the seventh inning. He is now 2-4 on the season.
Mizzou was led at the plate by senior designated hitter Jonah Schmidt who went 1-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Shortstop Jesse Santo also went 1-3 at the plate with a run driven in. Brannon Champagne had the other hit in the game for the Tigers. Mizzou jumped on top of Texas A&M in the first inning, scoring an unearned run. Sophomore Eric Garcia reached base on an error by Texas A&M shortstop Kenny Jackson and Schmidt then launched a double to right center to bring Garcia home from first, giving Mizzou a 1-0 lead.
Tiger starter Rob Zastryzny was dealing early in the game, striking out five Aggie batters through the first three innings. The Tigers gave him one more run of support in the fourth inning, scoring another unearned run off of Stripling. Schmidt reached base on an error by Aggie third baseman Adam Smith and eventually came around on a Santo single through the left side, giving Mizzou a 2-0 lead.
The Aggies finally got to Zastryzny in the fifth inning as Brandon Wood doubled to open the inning. Zastryzny then retired the next two batters, but he gave up a two-out single to Tyler Naquin to score Wood, cutting the Tiger lead in half at 2-1. The Aggies again scored in the sixth as once again they led off the inning with a double, this time from Jacob House. He was driven in on a triple by Adam Smith to tie the game.
That ended Zastryzny's day as Ross came on in relief and threw 1.1 innings, allowing just one hit, but the hit resulted in the game-winning run in the seventh inning. Ross gave up a lead-off single to Jackson in the seventh and he was driven in by House after Phil McCormick came on in relief of Ross.
The Tigers did however take two of three games from the sixth-ranked Aggies in the series, good for their second-straight Big 12 Conference series win. The Tigers will be back in action on May 3 as they head to Missouri State for their final midweek game of the season. For all the latest on Mizzou baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MUTigerBaseball.
