FORT MYERS, Fla. – Mizzou Baseball dropped its series finale with Seton Hall, 9-1, on Sunday afternoon at City of Palms Park, splitting the four-game series with the Pirates after taking the first two games. Seton Hall got a single run in each of the first three innings off of starter Ryan Lee (Gandview, Mo.) and another in the fifth. The Pirates then broke the game open with a four-run seventh to put the game out of reach.
SS Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.), CF Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) and C Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) each tallied doubles for the offense and senior Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.) added three hits with a double as well, his first multiple-hit game of the season. Seton Hall’s Zach Pendergast earned the win after going 7.0 innings, allowing just six hits and a run while striking out eight against just one walk. Lee took the loss.
Lee gave up a run in the first inning as the first two Seton Hall batters tallied hits. Leadoff man Derek Jenkins singled up the middle and promptly stole second. He was then doubled in by SS Chris Chiaradio to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Howard made a good defensive play at short, snaring a liner at short and doubling off the runner at second to end the inning.
After Mizzou went in order in the first, Lee was snake-bitten a bit. After a pair of strikeouts, he appeared to get the final out of the frame on a fly ball to shallow left, but LF Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) lost it in the sun allowing a run to score from first, giving the Pirates a 2-0 lead.
Seton Hall added another run in the third and another in the fourth as Mizzou’s bats stayed quiet. The Tigers got leadoff singles in the fourth and fifth innings from Ring and Lavy, respectively, but failed to score in each inning as Seton Hall took a 4-0 lead through five.
Reliever Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.) pitched a stellar sixth inning, retiring the side on nine pitches and Mizzou then got a one-out double from Howard in the bottom half but could not bring him home.
Bartlett came back out for the seventh inning and wound up loading the bases and walking in another Seton Hall run, giving the Pirates a 5-0 lead. Liam Carter (Highland Park, Ill.) came on in relief and surrendered a double to clear the bases as Seton Hall extended the lead to 8-0.
Mizzou got a run back in the seventh inning after back-to-back hits from Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) and Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) and a wild pitch, cutting the lead to 8-1. But that was all Mizzou could scratch across that frame. The Tigers then got a walk from Kirby McGuire (Round Rock, Texas) and a ground rule double from Ring in the eighth, but again couldn’t find a timely hit with runners in scoring position. Seton Hall added its final run in the top of the ninth on a bases-loaded walk.
Mizzou will stay in Florida next week and play Florida International in Miami on Wednesday (Feb. 24) before playing another four-game series vs. Hofstra at City of Palms Park next weekend.
— Mizzou Athletics —