Any momentum that the Missouri baseball team (13–6) hoped to gain heading into Southeastern Conference play flew out the window on Tuesday night.

In gusting wind and pouring rain, the Tigers fell 7–2 to Southeast Missouri State (10–7) at Taylor Stadium for their third loss in a row. This one was especially hard to stomach for coach Tim Jamieson’s team.

“No matter how long I’ve been in this game, we’re going to have slumps,” Jamieson said. “We have multiple guys in our lineup right now who are struggling.”

For the third game in a row, Missouri struggled to put anything together at the plate. The Tigers only managed to scratch across eight hits against SEMO’s Jacob Lawrence. Lawrence threw 131 pitches and recorded 11 strikeouts to keep Missouri at bay.

“I think we were in between pitches,” senior first baseman Zach Lavy said. “We were a little late on the fastball and out front of the changeup so he did a good job of keeping us that way the whole game.”

Unlike its series against Youngstown State, the Tigers pitching staff struggled right alongside its batters.

Missouri threw five pitchers at the Redhawks. All of them surrendered at least one hit, while as a staff, they gave up 15. Freshman starting pitcher Michael Plassmeyer did not have his usual control, allowing eight hits and three runs in 4.2 innings pitched.

“(Plassmeyer) skated on thin ice the whole time,” Jamieson said. “He made some good pitches at times to get out of situations but he created a lot of situations.”

Missouri attempted to rally in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases with one out, but only managed to score one run.

Next up for Missouri is No. 1 Florida (18–1). The first of three games in Gainesville against the Gators will start at 6 p.m. and can be viewed on SEC Network+.