BATON ROUGE, LA.  – The #13 Missouri Tigers (39-14) were eliminated from the 2015 SEC Tournament Thursday morning with a 5-2 loss to the #7 Auburn Tigers (47-9).  Mizzou took a 1-0 first inning lead on a two-out single by senior SS Corrin Genovese, but that was all the Tigers could muster in the inning, despite loading the bases.

Mizzou outhit Auburn 6-4 and also drew five walks and a hit batter, but stranded six runners and couldn’t scratch out a key hit after the first inning.  Mizzou also committed two errors which contributed to a pair of Auburn runs on the day and had a pair of runners thrown out at the plate attempting to score.

Trailing 5-1 late in the game, Mizzou mounted a rally in the sixth, loading the bases with one out on a pair of singles and a walk, but was limited to one run as sophomore C Kirsten Mack scored from third base on a wild pitch.  Genovese was cut down at the plate to end the rally trying to score after tagging on a fly ball to left field.

Freshman LHP Paige Lowary (18-5) was solid in defeat, holding the potent Auburn attack to just four hits while striking out five.  Two of the Auburn runs which scored were unearned against her.  Lowary retired the first six batters she faced on the day before allowing a batter to reach.

For the second straight day, Genovese gave Mizzou an early lead, with a two-out, RBI single that scored junior 2B Sami Fagan with the bases loaded.  Freshman PR Sydney Sprague was thrown out to end the inning trying to score from second.  Fagan walked with two outs and the bases empty in the inning, and advanced to third after freshman DP Amanda Sanchez was hit by a pitch and sophomore C Kirsten Mack walked to load the bases.

Auburn tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third with a leadoff homerun and added two runs on just one hit in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.  Auburn benefitted from a hit batter, a walk and a Tiger error in the frame, with the runs scoring on an error and a fielder’s choice groundout.  Auburn extended their lead to 5-1 in the fifth after a walk, a pair of infield singles and a throwing error.

A day after hitting three home runs in a 9-0 win over Mississippi State, the Tigers were held to six singles, getting safeties from Genovese and Mack, senior 1B Kelsea Roth, junior CF Taylor Gadbois, and senior 3B Angela Randazzo.

Mizzou, ranked #9 in this week’s Ratings Percentage Index rankings, will await its NCAA Tournament seed, with the brackets set to be announced Sunday evening at 10 p.m.

— MU Sports Information —