After Air Force pitcher junior Trent Monaghan retired senior Case Munson for the second out of the bottom of the third inning, Air Force catcher Travis Wilkie sprung up from his squat and began to jog off the field.
In a way his early desertion was prescient –– Monaghan struck the next batter out looking.
And how can you blame Wilkie, really? The Tigers gave him no reason to assume they even wanted to play the third out.
Lethargy plagued Missouri throughout its 4-2 loss to Air Force Wednesday at Taylor Stadium.
Junior Josh Lester blamed the poor weather for the team’s apparent apathy.
“We didn’t know if we were going to play or not today,” Lester said. “It’s hard to get ready and get going knowing you might not play. It’s just a bad day.”
In the top half of third, a hard grounder off the bat of senior Noah Pierce skipped just past the outstretched glove of junior Zach Lavy and into left field, opening the floodgates on what would be a two-run inning for the Falcons. With six total runs scored on the day under steady showers, two runs in one frame justified an offensive outpouring.
Andrew Schwaab started the game for Missouri and threw two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out two. Things began to fall apart when Jace James took the mound. James surrendered a RBI single to Pierce, then a RBI triple to Tyler Jones. His effort earned him a loss and an ERA of 9.00 on the season.
Ryan Lee didn’t fare any better. He yielded two runs in two innings of work.
By the time Lee was pulled, the Tigers had shot themselves in the foot. A three-run deficit on a rainy day proved insurmountable in the end.
Missouri coach Tim Jamieson admitted that the pitching staff could have done a better job, but laid the majority of the blame on his impotent offense.
“I don’t think we were as good offensively as we’ve been recently,” Jamieson said. “We’ve got to be better up and down the line up.”
Lester, whose three-for-three day was one of the Tiger offense’s lone bright spots, wasn’t discouraged by the the team’s lackluster day.
“We didn’t get any big two out RBI hits, but those will come,” Lester said. “We’ve been swinging it well lately. One game isn’t going to change our mindsets.”
Sophomore Ryan Howard, who went two for three with two runs scored, was equally eager to put the team’s offensive woes behind him.
“If anything it should give us more motivation going into the weekend,” Howard said. “We’ll get back on track and hopefully get some wins against South Carolina.”
