Mizzou baseball went into Saturday afternoon, looking to solve its latest offensive slump. The Tigers couldn’t quite find the key that opened that offensive lock, losing 6-4 in a game that, to put it lightly, came few and far between for the Tigers.
“Unfortunately, not a very competitive weekend,” Mizzou coach Kerrick Jackson said. “As I talked about with these guys all year, we just have to figure out how we can get a point of being consistent. We have these ups and downs, and the really drastic
highs and lows. It’s our job as a coaching staff to figure out how we can get them consistent, keep them in the same mind place, keep them motivated to go out and get after it every day.”
The Gamecocks, with this win, clinched a three-game series sweep over Missouri, and Kerrick Jackson’s group walks away with a missed opportunity to climb out of the bottom of the Southeastern Conference.
South Carolina built the lead in pieces, striking for a pair of runs in the top of the second on a pair of singles and a two-run double from Patrick Evans.
A third hit of the afternoon for KJ Scobey came via the long ball, and Dawson Harman, after his previous solo shot in the fourth, launched his second home run of the day with a two-out blast in the sixth, stretching the road side’s advantage to 5-2.
Will Craddock knocked up the homer counter to four, putting the offensive cherry on top of the Tigers’ pitching. His solo shot came in the top of the ninth, making the offensive production a slow drip for the Gamecocks in their final game at Taylor. The Tigers could not do the same.
I use the analogy of trying to find the right key for the lock,” Jackson said. “I don’t know where we go from game to game, and how we can look really good and look like we can beat anybody in the country, and then look the way that we looked this weekend. That’s what we have to figure out: what these guys need, how to get them motivated, how to keep them going and pushing, and understanding what it means to win and be competitive in the SEC.”
OFFENSIVE TROUBLES CONTINUE
Looking to avoid the sweep, the Tigers needed an offensive rebound after accumulating one run across the plate the last 18 innings against the Gamecocks pitching
It was more of the same for the Missouri offense throughout the afternoon. Similar to a volatile temper, there were sudden, unpredictable outbursts, which occurred in the fourth and ninth innings, respectively. For too long, the at-bats were filled with small contact, balls not leaving the infield, and strikeouts, of which the Tigers accumulated nine in the series finale.
For the opening three innings of play, the Tigers had a total of one ball hit out of the infield, a shallow pop fly to center field by Keegan Knutson. Gamecocks starter Alex Valentin had a no-hitter up until the former Gamecock, Jase Woita, connected on a two-run shot that nearly hugged the right-field foul pole.
Woita was the lone Tiger to reach base multiple times, three in total, which included two walks after his homer pulled MU closer, making it 3-2 in the bottom half of the third inning. The big fly from Woita was, more importantly, the lone hit for Missouri through eight innings of play.
Then came the ninth. Down 6-2 heading into the final chance for Missouri to pick up a winner, Woita led off with a walk. Two outs later, Keegan Knutson’s ground ball knocked off the glove of Dawson Harman at third, putting Knutson and Woita on second and third, respectively.
A single from Jamal George, who was subbed in at second base in the eighth inning, scored Woita and advanced Knutson to third. The pass the bat mentality continued, as another player who had recently been brought off the bench into the ballgame by Jackson, Donovan Jordan, doubled to left center. 6-4 Gamecocks, Blaize Ward coming up to the plate with a chance to turn an afternoon of frustration around.
The comeback ultimately wasn’t to be, as Wards’ flyout to right center field ended the last gasp at a chance to steal a road sweep from the visiting Gamecocks.
“That was one thing we just didn’t do today, which was we didn’t have a lot of quality at bats,” Jackson said. Why then and not earlier? Maybe I should have gotten my degree in psychology, and it would have been a little bit easier for me, but just being able to try and figure that out.”
UP NEXT
The Tigers head to Springfield for a second game of the season against its in-state foe, the Missouri State Bears. The two will clash on a 6:30 p.m CT midweek matchup on Tuesday evening.
Then, Missouri will travel to Norman to clash against No. 16-ranked Oklahoma in a three-game series from Friday to Sunday. After this weekend’s inconsistency, Kerrick Jackson had this to say about the road ahead with a second consecutive SEC road series against a top-25 opponent on the horizon.
“You’re going into Oklahoma a competitive team, but they’ve also had their ups and downs,” Jackson said. They started off ranked high this year and they’ve kind of gone through it. They’re starting to kind of pick up with their pitching. We’re a credible club, maybe our guys don’t believe how good we are, and so that’s part of it. Its about how do we instill that belief system in them to go out and think you can compete with anybody in the country. Just by competing, you put yourself in a position to walk out with the victory.”
