COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball dropped its annual Braggin’ Rights game to Illinois, 6-4, on Tuesday night (May 3) at GCS Ballpark as Illinois has now won the last two meetings in the series. The loss drops Mizzou to 24-22 while Illinois improves to 22-19. Mizzou junior SS Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) tallied his fifth homer of the year and also added a double, reaching base in three of four plate appearances. He also made a pair of sparkling plays in the field.
The start went to freshman righty Grant Macciocchi (West Chester Township, Ind.) who was masterful over three perfect innings. Illinois then tagged four runs on five hits in the fourth inning after Macciocchi exited the game and that broke it open for Illinois. Freshman Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) took the loss, just his second of the season, after allowing the four runs and five hits in the fourth. Illinois RHP Andrew Mamlic earned the win, moving him to 4-6 on the year.
Mizzou got on the board in the top of the first as Howard continued his hot hitting of late, launching a solo shot on a 1-1 pitch over the fence in left center to give Mizzou an early 1-0 lead. Macciocchi got three 5-3 groundouts in the first as he looked sharp early. He sat down the first nine he faced in three perfect innings, getting seven ground balls, a strikeout and a flyout.
Howard again got things started for Mizzou in the fourth, leading off the frame with his 10th double of the year. He then scored on a two-out error by Illinois 3B Trent Hammond off the bat of Mizzou C Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) and that gave Mizzou a 2-0 lead.
Tim Jamieson went to the bullpen in the fourth in favor of Sharp and he surrendered a leadoff homer to Jack Yalowitz as that cut the lead in half at 2-1. He then allowed a two-run homer to Pat McInerney to put Illinois on top, 3-2. Illinois then added another on an RBI single and that ended Sharp’s day as Illinois tagged him for five hits and four runs and took a 4-2 lead into the fifth inning.
Illinois added another run in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Jason Goldstein. Mizzou then threatened to get to Mamlic in the sixth, putting the first two men on after a Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) double after a 10-pitch at-bat and an eight-pitch walk by Howard. But senior Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.) grounded into a 3-6-1 double play and Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) grounded out to end the threat.
Sophomore RHP Nolan Gromacki (Smithville, Mo.) was sensational in relief, settling things down following late and keeping Mizzou in the game. He tossed 2.1 innings and struck out a career-high three batters. Mizzou then tallied two runs in the eighth inning on Lavy’s nation-leading eighth triple, cutting the lead to 5-4. Illinois then added an insurance run in the eighth inning.
Mizzou heads to Starkville, Miss., for a Thursday-Saturday series at No. 3 Mississippi State.
— Mizzou Athletics —