A week of near-comebacks finally paid off for Mizzou baseball.
The Tigers took the lead in the ninth to defeat No. 24 Kentucky 5-4 in the series-opener in Lexington, Kentucky. This was just the second Southeastern Conference win for Mizzou, the last one also opening the series on the road against then-No. 22 Tennessee.
"Obviously, we had some moments in there where it got a little tense and we dug a little hole for ourselves," Missouri coach Kerrick Jackson said. "We picked each other up and we were able to stay (ahead)."
Rebounding from the worst start he's had this season, right-hander Josh McDevitt spun quite a gem on the mound against the Wildcats. He went five innings and allowed just one earned run. He struck out seven and gave up just four free bases in that time.Â
Kentucky tagged a run off of McDevitt on a sacrifice fly in the second, that was the sole earned run for the Wildcats. Hudson Brown laid down a lead-off double and then advanced to third on a groundout, putting him position to score.
His score on the sacrifice also pushed Kentucky to its only lead of the night.Â
Mizzou came back in the next inning with a three-run third. The scoring began for the Tigers with Kam Durnin, who got on base with a single, scoring on a wild pitch. Three consecutive singles from Jase Woita, Pierre Seals and Blaize Ward came with two outs and brought in two more runs.
Durnin added another single in the fourth and brought in the final run for the Tigers before the Wildcats fought back.Â
It was after Mizzou's four-run burst across two innings that Kentucky began it's comeback. Mizzou's right fielder, Seals, committed an error on the first play of bottom of the fourth inning, resulting in the next two runs for Kentucky, both crossing the plate on singles and going in the scorebook as unearned under McDevitt. It made the score 4-3.Â
It wasn't until McDevitt left the mound that the Wildcats added the game-tying run. Reliever Dane Bjorn walked his only batter and then was pulled for righty Keyler Gonzalez, who brought the runner in on a single. Kentucky recorded three unanswered runs.Â
It took until the ninth inning for the winner to be settled. Just three batters needed.
Mateo Serna struck out to lead off the inning, but Keegan Knutson doubled and then Donovan Jordan singled to put Mizzou ahead for the final time.Â
Trey Lawrence was the pitcher out of the bullpen that carried the Tigers to the win. He tossed three innings, held the Wildcats offense to just one hit and stuck out five of his 13 batters faced.
"You have got to tip your hat to Trey Lawrence," Jackson said. "There's a guy that comes out of there and has a little bit of struggles, but understood how good his stuff was and was able to get us out of that situation."
The Tigers (18-13, 2-8 SEC) will look to take the series at 1 p.m. Saturday in Lexington, Kentucky. Lefty Brady Kehlenbrink will have the ball to start for Mizzou.Â
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