HOOVER, Ala. – Junior righty Reggie McClain (Duluth, Ga.) was brilliant as seventh-seeded Mizzou baseball topped 10th-seeded South Carolina, 5-1, on Tuesday afternoon (May 19) in game two of the SEC Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. McClain earned his seventh win of the season, allowing just one unearned run on six hits with four strikeouts and no walks. The win advances Mizzou to tomorrow’s second-round game against second-seeded Vanderbilt at approximately 12:30 p.m. The Tigers are now in the double-elimination portion of the bracket.
Junior closer Breckin Williams (Oronogo, Mo.) was outstanding after McClain allowed the first two Gamecock batters to reach in the eighth inning. With runners on second and third with no one out, Williams came in and earned the six-out save, his school record-breaking 13th of the season. In the eighth, he got a pair of strikeouts and a flyout against the middle of the order to leave the tying runs on base and pitched a perfect ninth. His 13 saves put him alone in first place at Mizzou, passing Ryan Stegall who had 12 in 2000. His 13 saves are the most of any reliever in the SEC as well.
Mizzou’s 3-7 hitters were a combined 9-for-19 with five runs and two RBIs, highlighted by freshman Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.), who tallied three hits in the game. Freshman Shane Benes (Town & Country, Mo.) and Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) each finished with multi-hit games as well. Junior Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.) drove in a team-high two runs as well.
In the first inning, McClain fell behind leadoff hitter Gene Cone, who roped a leadoff single through the right side for a leadoff single. But McClain got the next three batters to strand Cone and send the game to the bottom of the first.
Mizzou then got McClain some run support in the bottom of the second inning. Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) was hit by a pitch to open the frame and his high school teammate Benes then doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs. Harris then singled through the left side to score Bond and Jake Ivory (St. Charles, Mo.) hit a sacrifice fly to CF to plate Benes. That gave Mizzou a 2-0 lead after two innings.
South Carolina got a run back in the third, thanks in large part to an error to open the frame. Mizzou nearly turned a double play to get out of the jam, but the Gamecocks ended up scoring a run on a sacrifice fly to left by DC Arendas.
McClain continued to deal, needing just 44 pitches to get through four innings. Harris led off the bottom of the fourth with a double, his second hit of the day. Lavy then put together a great at-bat, fouling off five 0-2 pitches before singling up the middle to plate Harris, giving Mizzou a 3-1 lead.
South Carolina continued to struggle to put pressure on McClain as he needed just 73 pitches to get through six innings. He came back out for the seventh inning and sat down the Gamecocks in order and kept his pitch count low. Tim Jamieson sent him back out for the eighth inning and he gave up a leadoff single to nine-hole hitter Clark Scolamiero and a double to Cone, putting runners on second and third with no outs.
Closer Breckin Williams (Onorogo, Mo.) then came on in relief. He promptly struck out Arendas and Kyle Martin and got Elliott Caldwell to fly out to left to strand the runners, all against the middle of the Gamecock order. It is the second time this season that the Tiger closer has had runners on second and third with no outs and did not allow a run.
The offense seemed to gather momentum after Williams’ heroics, plating a pair of runs in the eighth inning on an RBI groundout by Benes and a sacrifice fly from Lavy. Williams came back out for the ninth and was perfect to seal the win and his record-breaking save.
Mizzou will play Vanderbilt Wednesday as it begins the double-elimination portion of the tournament. The game will begin at approximately 12:30 p.m.
— MU Sports Information —