Missouri baseball had its worst series of the season over the weekend, getting swept by No. 3 Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., in a three-game series.
Two innings into Friday night’s game and it looked like the Tigers’ offense could hang with the big boys, taking an early 4-3 lead. But the wheels fell off the wagon in the bottom of the fifth, when Vanderbilt outfielder Connor Harrell hit a leadoff home run, his second of the day, followed by consecutive doubles from outfielder Mike Yastrzemski and infielder Vince Conde, forcing coach Tim Jamieson to pull junior pitcher Rob Zastryzny early.
The Commodores would go on to score five more runs while Missouri could only respond with a seventh inning home run by senior outfielder Dane Opel. The Tigers ultimately fell 11-5.
On Saturday Vanderbilt took the lead early and never gave it back, scoring three runs in the third, one in the fourth, five in the fifth and three in the sixth inning.
Missouri’s lone response to the four-inning offensive flurry was a home run by sophomore outfielder Case Munson. The homer marked the first time Munson has gone yard as a Tiger, but it wasn’t enough as the Tigers lost 12-1.
The Commodores handed the Tigers their largest loss of the season on Saturday, then went on to top themselves with an even bigger one on Sunday. Vanderbilt hit everything the Tigers could throw at them, scoring 16 runs off 18 hits and winning 16-4. Hot off being named Southeastern Conference player of the week, junior Keaton Steele took the mound in a losing effort, allowing nine runs and walking four batters.
A glimmer of hope came for the Tigers in the top of the fourth. With two out, freshman Josh Lester, junior second baseman Kendall Keeton, junior third baseman Shane Segovia and junior shortstop Dillion Everett hit four consecutive singles, scoring three runs in the process. But Vanderbilt ferociously responded in the bottom of the inning, scoring six runs to quell the Tigers’ momentum.
In order to stop the bleeding, Jamieson brought in several pitchers from the starting rotation to slow down Vanderbilt. Redshirt junior Eric Anderson threw two innings, striking out two batters but giving up three runs. Freshman Alec Rash replaced Anderson in the seventh but couldn’t finish a full inning after giving up three runs. Sophomore Jace James stepped in to finish the game, giving up only one run.
The Commodores ended the series outscoring the Tigers 39-10 with 54 hits.
Against ranked opponents, the Tigers are now 1-8, with their sole win coming against South Carolina (now ranked No. 10) on March 16 when the Tigers won 4-0.
Missouri will now take a brief reprieve from conference play, hosting Missouri State on Wednesday at Taylor Stadium. The Tigers beat the Bears 5-4 on April 9.
