Missouri traveled to Kansas City on Wednesday to face the rival Kansas Jayhawks in another episode of the Border Showdown. Unfortunately for the Tigers, it seemed they left their bats in Columbia.
Kansas pitching limited Missouri to only one hit in a 7-1 Jayhawk win, striking out 13 Tigers in the process. Starter Thomas Taylor kept the Tigers in check over six innings, allowing only a leadoff single to sophomore Blake Brown in the opening frame. He was nearly flawless in the remainder of his outing, striking out a career-high nine while throwing 119 pitches. Kansas manager Ritch Price thought Taylor improved as the game went on.
“After he struck out the side in the third, I thought he completely found himself,” Price said. “He was locating his fastball and was mixing in his slider. He was really dominant from the third inning on.”
Brown, the proud owner of Missouri’s lone single, said that although Taylor was impressive, the Tigers’ bats just weren’t finding holes.
“We went up there and got good pitches,” Brown said. “We made solid contact a lot, it was just right at guys. Some people, like myself, are maybe trying too hard. I’d say he (Taylor) had a good day, but we made him look great.”
After stranding Brown on third base in the first inning, Missouri scored its only run in the second inning without ever recording a hit. With one out, sophomore and Texas native Eric Garcia walked, and then proceeded to steal a pair of bases. Sophomore catcher Ben Turner brought him home with a sacrifice fly to center field, evening the score at 1-1.
It wouldn’t be tied for long though. Freshman starter Myles Smith struggled immensely in his 1.1 innings of work, conceding four earned runs on two hits, two walks and a hit-by-pitch. After scoring one run in the first inning, Kansas tacked on three more in the second and third, putting the game nearly out of reach at 7-1.
It certainly wasn’t the first career start that Smith had hoped for, especially against a bitter rival in the Kansas City Royals’ Kauffman Stadium. Coach Tim Jamieson said that Smith’s poor outing was mostly due to his inability to throw strikes.
“There wasn’t enough strikes and that has kind of been his downfall,” Jamieson said. “The whole pitching staff, when we’ve thrown strikes, we’ve been good and when we haven’t, we haven’t been good. That kind of typified his outing.”
If there was a silver lining for the Tigers, it was the pitching of junior Dusty Ross, senior Kelly Fick and sophomore Eric Anderson. The relievers combined to blank the Jayhawks over the final six innings, allowing only two hits while striking out seven.
Ross had perhaps his finest appearance of the season, not allowing a hit in his three innings of work, striking out five, and throwing 25 of his 32 pitches for strikes. Jamieson was impressed by Ross’ performance, and hopes he can continue that consistency going forward.
“Everybody after the first two guys were good on the mound, but Dusty, that’s as good as he’s been,” Jamieson said. “Hopefully that’s a sign of something he can do for us from here on out.”
Ross, as well as the rest of Missouri’s pitching staff, will need to pitch well this weekend, as the team hits the road for a three-game series with Oklahoma State in Stillwater.
