COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou baseball dropped its regular season finale, 8-2, to Kentucky on Saturday afternoon (May 16) at Taylor Stadium. Mizzou finishes the regular season at 29-26 and 15-15 in SEC play while Kentucky improves to 30-24 and 14-15 in SEC play. UK starter Kyle Cody was fantastic, scattering just three Tiger hits over 7.0 shutout innings, striking out eight against just two walks, earning his fourth win of the season.
Mizzou starter Peter Fairbanks (St. Louis, Mo.) surrendered four earned runs over 1.2 innings as he was charged with his fifth loss of the season. It was just the second time this season that Fairbanks has allowed more than three earned runs in a start and his shortest outing of the season.
Senior Andrew Schwaab (St. Charles, Mo.) was the highlight for Mizzou on Saturday, allowing just one hit over 4.1 shutout innings, striking out two against one walk to keep the Tigers within striking distance.
Kentucky plated a run in the first inning on a no-out double by three-hole hitter JaVon Shelby. Fairbanks was able to pitch out of a second-and-third, nobody-out situation in the first to limit the damage to just one run, eventually stranding the bases loaded with after a two-out walk. But Kentucky knocked Fairbanks out of the game in the second, scoring three runs in the frame. Schwaab then came on in relief.
Cody ran into trouble in the fifth after a stellar first four innings. He loaded the bases with one out and worked a 3-2 count to Jake Ivory (St. Charles, Mo.). But Ivory bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat. That was Mizzou’s only real threat in the game off of Cody.
Junior Zach Strecker relieved Cody in the eighth inning, and promptly got the first two outs before an infield hit by Brett Peel (St. Charles, Mo.). Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) then singled up the middle to put runners on the corners with two down. Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) then poked a single through the right side to put Mizzou on the board, his team-leading 16th two-out RBI.
Lefty Logan Salow was then brought out of the bullpen to face Josh Lester (Columbus, Ga.) who lined a full-count single back up the middle to cut the lead top 4-2. UK made another pitching change, bringing in Bo Wilson to face Shane Benes (Town & Country, Mo.) and he got the freshman to strike out, stranding the tying runs on base.
UK got the two runs Mizzou scored in the eighth back in the ninth on a two-run homer by Evan White off of Tiger reliever Austin Tribby (Springfield, Mo.). Shelby then hit another two-run homer in the ninth to make the score 8-2. John Miles (Columbia, Mo.) stopped the bleeding, sending the game to the bottom of the ninth, but Mizzou couldn’t scratch anything across.
Mizzou will open the SEC Tournament next Tuesday in Hoover, Ala. It is Mizzou’s first SEC Tournament appearance since 2013.
— MU Sports Information —