Missouri baseball shut out in SEC opener by No. 1 Arkansas
Arkansas gave Missouri baseball the No. 1 treatment.
The Tigers opened Southeastern Conference play with a 8-0 loss Friday evening to the No. 1-ranked Razorbacks in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Here are three takeaways as the Tigers (9-9, 0-1 SEC) dropped their first conference game under first-year head coach Kerrick Jackson:
Missouri baseball can’t tame former Tiger Ross Lovich
Former Missouri left fielder Ross Lovich wasn’t much in the mood for formalities against his former team.
Lovich transferred from Mizzou to Arkansas after last season. In his second trip to the plate, he made the Tigers miss him.
The outfielder drilled a near-400-foot home run out of Baum-Walker Stadium for a three-run home run in the bottom of the third to make the score 5-0 Razorbacks (15-2, 1-0) and effectively put the game out of sight.
Lovich’s younger brother, Missouri first baseman Jackson Lovich, watched him round the bases.
The game-altering hit might never have happened were it not for an MU error earlier in the inning. Arkansas shortstop Wehiwa Aloy’s ground ball to third bounced out of the glove of MU third baseman Justin Colon, stopping a potential double-play with no outs. Had the Tigers turned it, the inning would have been over before Ross Lovich came to the plate.
Ross Lovich went 1-for-3 and was hit by the first pitch he faced — resulting in a run after a two-run blast from designated hitter Nolan Souza — in his first game against his former team. Souza had a two-dinger day, also hitting a solo blast in the eighth.
Hagen Smith keeps up K streak; Lunceford struggles
Arkansas ace Hagen Smith entered his start against Missouri averaging 21.18 strikeouts per nine innings — far and away the best average in the nation.
That tracked.
Smith struck out 10 Missouri players in six shutout innings — a start that lasted exactly 100 pitches and ended with a swinging K from Missouri’s Trevor Austin.
The Tigers tallied two hits off Hagan before his day was done, and got just two more off Arkansas' relievers.
Logan Lunceford started his fifth game of the season for Missouri. He lasted 3⅔ innings, and was pulled in the bottom of the fourth after Arkansas logged its third home run of the game against him. Lunceford gave up four hits for seven runs, six of which earned.
Grad transfer Jacob Peaden came on in relief for MU, going 4⅓ innings and giving up three hits and one earned run.
SEC play opens. How do Tigers shape up?
There’s been more highs than lows for Missouri baseball this season.
The Tigers beat Kansas in 10 innings on Tuesday in Lawrence, Kansas, to briefly get their record above .500 — a rare high.
But before that, Missouri narrowly beat Lindenwood, split a four-game home series with Purdue Fort Wayne and dropped two of three to Northern Kentucky.
SEC play is now underway. After MU’s series versus Arkansas concludes, with Game 2 set for 2 p.m. Saturday, the Tigers open their home SEC slate against unranked Kentucky before a road series at No. 9 Vanderbilt.
The Tigers have five series against current top-20 teams left on their schedule. Current form would suggest league play is going to be tough territory for MU.
Missouri softball drops series opener at Tennessee
Mizzou softball dropped the opening game of its first road SEC series of the season in five innings, falling to No. 5 Tennessee 9-0 on Friday evening in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Laurin Krings’ start in the circle lasted just 2.1 innings, as she was pulled after giving up all nine runs, seven of which were earned.
The Tigers (22-4, 2-2 SEC) managed two hits off Vols (20-4, 1-0) starter Karlyn Pickens, who struck out five and walked one in the shutout.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri baseball shut out in SEC opener by No. 1 Arkansas
