Missouri showed some fight on the road against No. 1 Florida this past weekend, but dropped all three games in its first Southeastern Conference series of the season. It was the first time the Tigers have been swept to start conference play since 2003. Despite the 0–3 mark, it was not all bad news for Mizzou. Here’s what we learned:
**Production against the SEC’s top pitchers will be a mixed bag**
The good news: Mizzou managed 23 hits against Florida’s three-headed monster rotation and didn’t show signs of backing down. The bad news: the Tigers struck out 44 times over the weekend. Gators starters, junior Logan Shore, junior A.J. Puk — a contender to be the No. 1 MLB draft pick — and sophomore Alex Faedo accounted for 30 of those. So, what does this mean? Well, it shows the Tigers will remain aggressive at the plate and will continue to sit on early-count fastballs.
At the same time, though, they need to get better with their two-strike approaches. Too many times were batters caught looking in key situations late in the game. Aggressiveness and attacking the fastball is crucial, but only if you can make adjustments when you fall behind in the count.
**The bullpen showed nice growth against a top offense**
Top to bottom, Florida’s lineup is loaded. With junior Buddy Reed, sophomore JJ Schwarz, junior Peter Alonso, sophomore Dalton Guthrie and freshman Deacon Liput, the list of weapons is endless. Mizzou’s bullpen was far from perfect, but it showed some signs of growth again over the weekend, limiting the Gators’ explosive offensive attack to three earned runs over a combined 7.2 innings of relief work. Freshman Brian Sharp (2–1) was saddled with the loss on Friday night as the Tigers fell in extra innings. However, freshmen Graham Ruopp and Ty Shoaff, along with redshirt freshman Liam Carter and redshirt sophomore Cole Bartlett, helped keep the Gators at bay in the final two games of the series.
**Reggie McClain showed some mental toughness**
After getting knocked around for three runs in the first inning of the series, redshirt senior starter Reggie McClain was dialed in. He delivered a complete game performance with eight strikeouts and no walks stifling Florida as the Tigers mounted their comeback effort.
McClain could have easily called it a day after falling behind 3–0 early, but he battled back to turn in one of his best starts of the season, given the high-powered opponent. McClain got the Tigers to extra innings and left with a no-decision. On the season, McClain is 3–0 with a 1.11 ERA and a remarkable 34:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, which ranks second in the nation.
**The back half of the Tigers’ rotation is still up in the air**
It appears that senior southpaw Austin Tribby has a hold on the third spot in the rotation, but nothing is a given. Tribby has walked a fine line in his outings and has stumbled to a 2–2 mark after losing his last two starts. He’s shown improvements in his stamina after spending most of his collegiate career as a reliever, reaching 80-plus pitches in three of his last four starts. However, after surrendering five runs in just three innings against Florida and seeing his ERA climb to 4.40, his stake as the third starter is not a given.
The race to be penciled into the fourth spot in the rotation is even more wide open. Neither freshman Michael Plassmeyer nor redshirt sophomore Ryan Lee pitched over the weekend, as they are both typically reserved for midweek contests, but it will be interesting to see how coach Tim Jamieson uses them going forward during conference play.
**Next up**
The Tigers will return to Taylor Stadium this weekend for a three-game series against Vanderbilt (17–3, 1–2 SEC), beginning 6 p.m. Friday. The Commodores are 10–0 all-time against Mizzou. However, the Tigers took Vanderbilt to the wire in last year’s SEC Tournament, eventually falling 7–6 in extras. Vanderbilt has won two of the past three SEC East titles and has reached the national championship series in consecutive years.