COLUMBIA, Mo. – No. 23 Mizzou Baseball lost its fifth straight one-run game Sunday afternoon as No. 9 Florida completed a three-game series sweep with a 2-1 win at Taylor Stadium. Florida improves to 20-9 and 5-4 in SEC play while Mizzou falls to 21-7 and 4-5 in SEC play.

Junior RHP Bryce Montes De Oca (Lawrence, Kan.) took the loss after going a career-high 5.0 innings and allowing just two earned runs, both with two outs. Mizzou stranded 11 men on base and lost another at the plate in the loss. Florida starter Jackson Kowar earned the win to move to 4-0 after going 5.0 innings with six hits and one run (earned). He walked a season-high five and struck out four. Michael Byrne earned his fourth save of the season.

Junior RHP Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.) was brilliant in relief of Montes De Oca, turning in one of the best outings of his career. He tossed 4.0 shutout innings and struck out two while walking one and surrendering just two hits. The pitching was good Sunday, but Mizzou just struggled to score. The defense was outstanding, turning in four double plays to aid Mizzou’s pitching staff.

Florida’s JJ Schwarz squared up a 1-1 fastball with two down in the first inning, just sneaking it over the wall in left for his third homer of the season as Florida took a 1-0 lead early. The Gators added another two-out run on an RBI double by Ryan Larson in the second as they led 2-0 moving into the bottom of the second.

Mizzou got two men on in the second after Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) walked and Alex Samples (Bridgeport, Texas) singled into right with one out. But Kowar pitched around the trouble to preserve the 1-0 lead.

Junior C Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) nearly got Mizzou on the board with a two-out run of its own in the fourth, lacing a single into centerfield. Robbie Glendinning (Scarborough, Australia), who singled to lead off the frame, was waved home but Gator CF Nick Horvath gunned him at the plate for the third out, saving a run and preserving the 2-0 lead.

Mizzou loaded the bases with one out in the fifth inning on back-to-back walks and a beautiful bunt hit by Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.). Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) hit into a double play to scratch a run across but that was all Mizzou got, cutting the lead in half at 2-1. Mizzou stranded two more in the sixth inning as Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) nearly got a ball through the right side to tie the game. Mizzou left nine men on base through six innings and lost a runner at the plate in that span.

Mizzou stranded another runner in the seventh inning and then came up empty in the eighth and ninth innings.

Mizzou will be back in action Tuesday in Sauget, Ill., in a battle for Braggin’ Rights against rival Illinois at 6:30 p.m.

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. – No. 23 Mizzou Baseball dropped game two of its three-game series against No. 9 Florida, 2-1, Saturday afternoon at Taylor Stadium. Mizzou got on the board first in the second inning on a one-out, RBI double by Nelson Mompierre (Miami, Fla.), but Florida freshman RHP settled in from there to earn his fifth win of the season. Singer tossed a complete game and allowed just three hits and one earned run. Mizzou falls to 21-6 and 4-4 in SEC play while Florida goes to 19-9 and 4-4 in SEC play.

Mizzou sophomore LFP Michael Plassmeyer (St. Louis, Mo.) took the loss after allowing two earned runs over 3.1 innings, scattering six hits with four strikeouts and no walks. Freshman LHP T.J. Sikkema (DeWitt, Iowa) relived Plassmeyer and tossed the final 5.2 innings, a career-long, and allowed just three base runners (two hits and a walk) to give Mizzou a chance.

Plassmeyer was effective in the first inning, striking out the first two batters he faced before getting JJ Scwarz to bounce out to second after a nine-pitch at-bat to end the frame. Mizzou then got a two-out walk from Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) in the first and he took second on a throwing error, but was stranded there.

Florida picked up a pair of hits in the second and put runners on the corners with one down. But Plassmeyer got a 6-4-3 double play to escape the jam. Mizzou carried the momentum from that double play into the second as Nelson Mompierre (Miami, Fla.) ripped a one-out double the other way into left center to score Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) and give Mizzou a 1-0 lead.

Florida tallied a pair of runs in the fourth inning, one on a solo homer to lead off the frame by Johnathan India. A seeing-eye single by Christian Hicks off the glove of Robbie Glendinning (Scarborough, Australia) then gave Florida a 2-1 lead.

Singer and Sikkema settled in from there and the two teams struggled to get anything going offensively off of two of the best pitchers in the SEC. Mizzou got a runner to third in the fifth inning and that was the best chance to score, but Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Fla.) flew out to strand the tying run.

— Mizzou Athletics —

CHICAGO (AP) — Michael Porter Jr. scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the West over the East 109-107 in the McDonald’s All-American Game on Wednesday.

Porter Jr., a 6-foot-10 forward ranked among the top prospects of his class by multiple recruiting services, announced last week he will play college basketball at Missouri. His father was recently hired by the Tigers as an assistant coach.

Porter Jr. was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. Jaylen Hands, a UCLA recruit, added 14 points for the West.

The East was led by Mohamed Bamba, who scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Bamba is undecided on a college.

In the girls’ game, Rellah Boothe had 18 points and nine rebounds to lead the East over the West 80-74 in overtime. The 6-foot-1 Boothe has signed with Texas.

— Associated Press —

COLUMBIA, Mo. – No. 23 Mizzou Baseball dropped a 6-5 decision to in-state rival Southeast Missouri Tuesday afternoon at Taylor Stadium. Sophomore 1B Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the bottom of the fourth inning, but SEMO exploded for four runs in the top of the fifth off of Mizzou’s bullpen to put the game out of reach. Mizzou tried to rally with two in the eighth, but lost a runner at the plate on a safety squeeze play which would have tied the game.

Mizzou RHP Cameron Dulle (St. Louis, Mo.) took the loss after being charged with three of the four runs in the fifth. He came in after a solid start from junior RHP Bryce Montes De Oca (Lawrence, Kan.) who went 4.0 innings while allowing just two earned runs on two hits with a career-high six strikeouts. Nate Green earned the win for SEMO, tossing 4.0 innings with just two earned runs allowed while SEMO’s Friday night starter Clay Chandler earned a five-out save, his first of the season.

Montes De Oca worked an easy 1-2-3 first inning on just 10 pitches, picking up a pair of strikeouts. He then ran into trouble in the second, walking three and allowing a pair of RBI singles as SEMO took a 2-0 lead.

Mizzou cut the lead in half in the third on a Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) sacrifice fly, taking advantage of a big throwing error by the Redhawks. After Montes De Oca threw up another zero in the top of the fourth, Mizzou got a two-out rally from the bottom of the order in its half of the fourth. Alex Samples (Bridgeport, Texas) and Chris Cornelius (St. Louis, Mo.) tallied back-to-back two-out singles and Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) hit a two-run double to give Mizzou a 3-2 lead.

The lead was short lived as Clayton Evans hit a solo homer to lead off the top of the fifth inning off reliever Cameron Dulle (St. Louis, Mo.). The line kept moving on consecutive RBI hits off reliever Ryan Lee (Grandview, Mo.) and the Redhawks got another on an RBI groundout to take a 6-3 lead.

Mizzou threatened in the bottom of the seventh inning, loading the bases with one out for Robbie Glendinning (Scarborough, Australia) who drew a bases-loaded walk to draw Mizzou within two at 6-4. Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) then hit a sacrifice fly to pull within one at 6-5. SEMO escaped the jam without any further damage.

Junior RHP Nolan Groamcki (Smithville, Mo.) pitched a shutout eighth inning and Samples led off the bottom of the frame with his second hit of the game. Mizzou then put runners on the corners with one out in the eighth inning, but a botched safety squeeze cut down a runner at the plate and a strikeout by Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) ended the inning. Mizzou then went 1-2-3 in the ninth after T.J. Sikkema (DeWitt, Iowa) pitched a shutout top of the ninth inning.

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Women’s Basketball sophomore guard Sophie Cunningham (Columbia, Mo.) was named an Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention, as announced by the AP on Monday. Cunningham is the 10th Tiger in program history to earn All-America Honorable Mention recognition and the first since LaToya Bond in 2006.

Cunningham helped lead Mizzou to 22 wins, a third-place finish in the Southeastern Conference and a second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time since 1985 and 1986. The sensational sophomore steered Mizzou to wins in back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in program history. She was named First Team All-SEC by both the league’s coaches and the AP after a stellar campaign.

Cunningham averaged a team-best 17.5 points per game, which ranks fourth in the SEC. The sophomore guard ended the regular season with four consecutive 20-point performances, averaging 26.5 points per game in the span while racking up a pair of National Player of the Week awards. During that stretch, she became the first Tiger since Sandie Prophete in 1989 to score 26 points in three straight games.

Cunningham finished with 10 20-point performances in 2016-17 and has 20 such outings in just 63 career games. She scored at least 30 points on three different occasions during the current campaign, one of just two players in the SEC to do so in league play.

Cunningham ranked second in the SEC in free throw shooting, making 84.8 percent of her attempts. She also boasted a 48.2 field goal percentage and remains the only player in the league shooting above 80 percent from the free throw line and 45 percent from the field.

Cunningham dished out at least three assists in 19 games. She led Mizzou in assists and finished 12th in the league with 3.4 per game.

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. – No. 18 Mizzou Baseball dropped the rubber game of a three-game series with Arkansas, 9-8, Sunday afternoon at Taylor Stadium. Arkansas scored three runs in the second and four in the fourth to put the game away, despite a late Mizzou rally. Mizzou falls to 21-3 and 4-2 in SEC play while Arkansas goes to 20-5 and 5-1 in SEC play. Arkansas hit three homers off Mizzou pitching Sunday to clinch the series win.

Mizzou junior RHP Andy Toelken (Green Cover Springs, Fla.) took the loss after pitching 1.0+ innings, allowing four hits and three runs. Mizzou’s offense was led by junior Nelson Mompierre (Miami, Fla.) who had a pair of hits, including a double, and junior OF Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) drove in three runs and scored another in the loss

Toelken worked around a two-out catcher’s interference in the first inning and Mizzou got on the board in its half of the first, getting a bases-loaded sacrifice fly from Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) after a nine-pitch at-bat as he flew out to the track in right center.

Arkansas got that run back in the second on a solo homer from Dominic Fletcher on a 2-1 pitch to open the inning. That kicked off a five-hit, three-run inning for Arkansas, knocking Toelken out of the game in favor of RHP Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.).

After Bartlett got through the first two batters in the fourth inning, Arkansas got a pair of two-out hits and a big error to extend the lead to 4-1. Grant Koch then hit a three-run homer to put the Razorbacks up 7-1. All four runs were unearned following the error on what would have been the third out.

Mizzou got some of those runs back in the bottom half of the fourth on a bases-loaded, two-run single by Harris. Arkansas then got a solo homer from Carson Shaddy in the fifth inning to push the lead back to 8-3. The Razorbacks added another unearned run in the top of the seventh.

Mizzou exploded for four runs in the eighth inning, two coming on RBI groundouts and the next two on a wild pitch on a Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) strikeout. Robbie Glendinning (Scarborough, Australia), representing the tying run, then nearly tied the game with a ball hit to the warning track in right center for the third out as he just missed tying the game.

Junior RHP Nolan Gromacki (Smithville, Mo.) then pitched the top of the ninth inning and Mizzou tacked on another run in the bottom of the ninth as it looked like it might rally again. Ian Nelson (Lake St. Louis, Mo.) hit a two-out single to pull within one. Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) then struck out looking with the tying run on second base as Arkansas escaped with the win.

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball tallied three homers as part of a six-run sixth inning to drop Arkansas, 7-2, on Saturday afternoon, evening the three-game series at one win apiece. Junior SS Robbie Glendinning (Scarborough, Australia) and sophomore 1B Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) hit back-to-back homers, a two-run shot and a solo shot respectively, to kick start the sixth inning and DH Nelson Mompierre (Miami, Fla.) added a two-run homer three batters later as part of a six-run sixth inning to put the game out of reach.

Mizzou moves to 21-2 on the year while Arkansas falls to 19-5. Both teams are now 4-1 in SEC play and play the rubber game of the series at 1 p.m. Sunday. Freshman LHP T.J. Sikkema (DeWitt, Iowa) earned the win (5-0) for Mizzou and now has a win or a save in his last eight appearances (5-0, three saves). He backed a sensational start by Michael Plassmeyer (St. Louis, Mo.), who went 5.0 innings, allowing just six hits and one earned run with five strikeouts.

The story of the game was the sixth inning as Mizzou pounded out three homers, seven hits and six runs to take a 7-1 lead that it did not relinquish.

After Plassmeyer pitched around a runner-on-the-corners, one-out jam in the first inning, Mizzou got runners on the corners with no outs after a Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) walk and a Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) hit through the right side. The two then perfectly executed a double-steal to give Mizzou a 1-0 lead after one.

Arkansas tied the game on a Chad Spanberger homer in the top of the third inning. Mizzou got a leadoff double from Mompierre in the bottom of the fifth but couldn’t capitalize. Sikkema took over on the mound in the sixth inning and got a sensational catch from Harris in right field as he went face-first into the wall for out No. 2. He mowed down Arkansas on eight pitches to set up Mizzou’s half of the sixth.

Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) singled to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning and then Glendinning and Sharp went back-to-back to give Mizzou a 4-1 lead. Mompierre then added his two-run shot to extend the lead to 6-1 as Arkansas used three pitchers in the inning. An RBI single by Misner capped the inning and gave Mizzou a 7-1 lead.

Sikkema was then lights out from there, surrendering a lone run in the eighth inning, to earn his fifth win of the season.

— Mizzou Athletics —

SEATTLE (AP) — Michael Porter Jr. has announced he will play college basketball at Missouri after Washington granted him his release from his national letter of intent.

Porter, considered the top high school senior in the country, announced his decision in a statement posted to Twitter on Friday. He said his plans changed last week when Washington fired coach Lorenzo Romar and that he’s taken the “last seven days to give great consideration to my future.”

Familiarity is also likely at the heart of Porter’s decision. He lived in Colombia, Missouri, until the past year when his family moved to Seattle so his father could be an assistant on Romar’s staff. Michael Porter Sr. was hired as an assistant for new Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin.

Porter was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year earlier this week and the 6-foot-9 wing is already being projected as a possible top pick in the 2018 NBA draft.

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. – No. 18 Mizzou Baseball’s 20-game win streak came to an end after falling to the Arkansas Razorbacks 9-2, Friday afternoon at Taylor Stadium. Nine of the 10 runs scored in the game came with two outs on the board.

Mizzou’s 20-game win streak marks the second longest win streak in school history, trailing only the 1964 team, who posted a 21-game streak. Entering the game, Mizzou also had the longest active win streak in the nation.

Sophomore Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) paced the Mizzou offense, hitting 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Sharp is tied for the team lead with seven doubles on the season and has reached base in 12 consecutive games.

Arkansas drew first blood in the top of second after Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) loaded the bags and then plunked a batter to walk in the first run. Chad Spanberger plated two more for the visitors off a single to shallow right-center field. An error by freshman Chris Cornelius (St. Louis, Mo.) and a single extended the Arkansas lead to 5-0.

Lightning in the area forced the game into a two hour and 11 minute rain delay. Upon resumption of play, Cameron Dulle (St. Louis, Mo.) took the mound for Mizzou in relief for Houck and was quickly tagged with a run off a walk and a single to right.

Junior Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) sparked the Mizzou offense with a single ripped through the left side in Mizzou’s half of the fourth inning. Sharp put Mizzou on the board with a double blasted to right field, pushing Harris across the plate.

In the bottom of the fifth, Robbie Glendinning (Scarborough, Australia) took an 0-2 pitch over the opposite field wall for his third homer of the season. Arkansas countered with an infield RBI in the top of the seventh, giving the visitors the 7-2 lead. The Razorbacks tacked on two more runs, one in the eighth and one in the ninth, to close out the game, 9-2.

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Athletics has issued the following statement on the hiring of Michael Porter, Sr., as an assistant coach on new Head Coach Cuonzo Martin’s staff:

“Mizzou Athletics is pleased to confirm that Michael Porter, Sr., has accepted an assistant coaching position on Cuonzo Martin’s staff, pending the successful copmletion of the University’s hiring process. Mizzou Men’s Basketball will offer additional comment when Coach Martin completes his full-time coaching staff in the near future.”

— Mizzou Athletics —