COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball dropped game two of its series with No. 9 LSU, 9-5, on Saturday afternoon at Taylor Stadium. The game was tied 4-4 going into the seventh, but LSU scored five runs in the frame with four coming on a grand slam by Beau Jordan to take a 9-5 lead. LSU tagged Mizzou starter Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) for a career-high eight runs and five walks as he took the loss, his third of the season. Mizzou falls to 20-17 and 4-10 in SEC play this season.

LSU’s Alex Lange earned the win, his third of the season. LSU improves to 24-11 and 8-6 in SEC play. Senior 1B Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.) extended his hitting streak to a career-long nine games, the longest streak by a Tiger this season. C Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) and OF Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) each homered in the loss. Harris drove in two of Mizzou’s four runs, his seventh game this season with multiple RBIs, second on the team.

Houck cruised through the first inning on 13 pitches, getting a pair of strikeouts looking and an easy 1-3 bounce out to retire the side. After Mizzou put two men aboard against Lange in the first, Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) struck out to strand a pair. LSU then tagged Houck for a two-out run in the second inning on an RBI single to RF by Beau Jordan.

Houck then escaped a runners-on-the-corners, no-out jam in the third with a pair of Ks and a flyout to center. Mizzou then took that momentum into the bottom of the third and plated a pair of runs, both with two outs. The first came on an RBI single by Harris and the next on a bases-loaded walk by Kirby McGuire (Round Rock, Texas).

LSU then scored three in the fourth inning, all with two outs, to take a 4-2 lead. Mizzou then homered in back-to-back innings in the fourth and fifth with solo shots by Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) and Harris to tie the game at 4-4. Bond’s homer was his team-leading fifth while Harris’ was his first of 2016.

The game remained tied until the seventh inning as Houck struggled, loading the bases with two singles and a walk. He then walked in a run to give LSU a 5-4 lead while ending his day in favor of reliever Liam Carter (Highland Park, Ill.). Carter surrendered a grand slam to Beau Jordan and that gave LSU a 9-4 lead.

Mizzou then went quietly in the seventh and eighth despite reliever Austin Tribby (Springfield, Mo.) coming in and settling things down, pitching 2.1 shutout frames to close the game. Mizzou added a run in the ninth on Lavy’s team-leading 14th double of the season, cutting the lead to 9-5.

Mizzou and LSU will close the three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m.

— Mizzou Athletics —