COLUMBIA, Mo. – After finding itself in an early six-run hole, the Missouri baseball team scored 11 unanswered runs over a two-inning stretch to run away with a 15-7 victory over Texas Southern Sunday afternoon at Taylor Stadium that completed a series sweep and stretched the Tigers’ win streak to seven games.
Luke Mann led the Tiger attack with a 3-for-5 day at the plate that included the go-ahead three-run homer as part of a nine-run, fourth-inning outburst by Mizzou (9-2). Jackson Lovich added a two-run shot in the game’s key rally that saw the Tigers send 14 batters to the plate in scoring nine times to wipe out a 6-0 Texas Southern lead.
Lovich went 3-for-5 with four RBIs, coming up just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle in his first collegiate start. Justin Colon added three hits to go along with career highs of three runs scored and three RBIs, either scoring or driving in a run in four separate Mizzou scoring rallies.
On the mound, the duo of Austin Troesser and Daniel Wissler combined to hold TSU to a single run on four hits over the final 5.0 innings.
The victory, Mizzou’s seventh in a row and its ninth in its last 10 games, did not come without adversity, as Texas Southern (7-6) struck for six early runs before the Tigers put a single runner in scoring position. CJ Castillo sparked a pair of early scoring opportunities for TSU, singling and scoring on Daalen Adderley’s sacrifice as part of a two-run first inning for the Tigers.
Texas Southern built a 6-0 lead in the third, handing Mizzou its largest deficit of the season courtesy of a two-out, four-run rally. After Tiger starter Rorik Maltrud dispatched the first two hitters of the inning, Castillo ignited the surge with a base hit through the left side. Adderley drove in a second run with a single to make it a 3-0 contest, and Olivo unloaded on Maltrud’s 1-0 pitch, launching a three-run shot over the wall in left-center to give TSU a six-run cushion.
But Mizzou responded in a big way in the fourth, using the first of Jackson Lovich’s three consecutive hits to open what would become the Tigers’ biggest inning of the season to date. Following a walk and a hit batsman, Ty Wilmsmeyer put his squad on the board with an RBI single, and Cam Chick drew a bases-loaded walk to force a second run home.
Next, Colon delivered a crucial two-run single, before Mann lifted his fifth home run of the season over the right-center field fence to put Mizzou on top to stay at 7-6.
After a walk to Matt Garcia, Lovich followed Mann’s lead and drove a two-run shot out to left to extend the lead to three runs. The freshman brought home two more runs with his two-out double in the fifth, after Colon was hit by a pitch and Mann singled with one out.
Mizzou added two-run rallies in the seventh and the eighth, outscoring TSU by a 15-1 margin over the final six frames.
TSU’s lone run over the final six innings came in the sixth via a Roderick Coffee homer off Troesser (1-1), who earned the win after striking out a pair and scattering three hits in 3.0 innings of relief. Wissler then finished off the Tigers with 2.0 innings of one-hit relief, over which he fanned four hitters.
TIGER NOTEBOOK
- Mizzou remained unbeaten (4-0) at home in 2023 and improved to 386-225 all-time at Taylor Stadium
- The Tigers’ seven-game win streak represents their longest since claiming seven straight wins, Feb. 21-March 6, 2022
- The Tigers’ early six-run deficit marked their largest of the season
- Luke Mann’s fourth-inning homer marked his 33rd as a Tiger, moving him into sole possession of ninth place on Mizzou’s career home run list
- Mann went 7-for-14 with three homers and seven RBIs in Mizzou’s four games this past week
- The Tigers hit .337 as a club with an on-base percentage of .472 during the series, outscoring TSU by a 31-14 margin
- Mizzou’s 9-2 start matches last season’s opening 11-game stretch as the program’s best since the 2017 season, when the Tigers won 20 of their first 21 games
- Sunday’s announced attendance of 1,261 gives Mizzou three consecutive gates of over 1,100 to start the home portion of its 2023 schedule
UP NEXT
Mizzou will continue its 13-game home stand with a 3 p.m. non-conference contest against Western Illinois on Tuesday (March 7). Single-game tickets for the 2023 season are on sale now and can be purchased by calling 1-800-CAT-PAWS, or by visiting MUTigers.com/feature/BSBTix.
